Nearly Every Team Moves in Newest NCAA DII Men’s National Poll

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

September 21, 2016

NEW ORLEANS – Defending NCAA DII Men’s Cross Country Champion Colorado Mines maintained its status atop the week two edition of the National Coaches’ Polls, but it was moving week for pretty much the rest of the top-25.
The Orediggers were one of just three teams that held steady from last week in the new men’s poll announced Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). One was No. 4 Chico State and the other was No. 20 Saginaw Valley State.
Everyone else checked in with a different rank from a week ago, including five teams – a full one-fifth of the poll – that joined for the first time this season with plenty of running left to do until the November 19 NCAA Championships in Saint Leo, Florida.
National PDFs: Top 25 Summary | Week-by-Week 2016 | Week-by-Week All-TimeRegional Rankings PDFs: Regional Rankings Summary | Rankings Recap
Division II XC Polls/Rankings Central | WOMEN’S POLL

NCAA Division II National Coaches’ Poll Top 5 – Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Colorado Mines	GVSU	Adams State	Chico State	Cal Poly Pomona
View Complete Men’s National Coaches’ Poll

Moving up to No. 2 behind CSM was Grand Valley State, which had a strong enough showing at the Michigan State Spartan Invitational to reclaim the No. 2 spot it lost last time and merit a first-place vote. Zach Panning led the way with the individual win for GVSU, which finished runner-up to Michigan State in the team standings.
Adams State, which was idle, returned to the No. 3 position ahead of Chico State.
Making the biggest jump of any team in the top-10 was No. 5 Cal Poly Pomona, which improved five spots from last time. The Broncos were the runners-up at the UC-Riverside Invitational behind fifth-place Mark Huizar, propelling them to their highest rank in program history.
No. 6 Augustana (S.D.) moved up one spot, displacing Shippensburg down to No. 7. Western State moved up one spot to No. 8, followed by Alaska Anchorage at No. 9 after a four-spot dip.
Moving up to No. 10 was CSU-Pueblo for its first-ever top-10 appearance. The ThunderWolves defeated DI Utah State on a tiebreak, 57-57, to win the Montana State Invitational this past weekend behind individual winner Derrick Williams.
Perhaps no team, though, made a bigger impression this weekend than the Hillsdale men. The Chargers went from unranked to No. 11 – its highest rank since 2014 and tied for its third-best mark in program history – after finishing fifth at Michigan State ahead of regional foe Southern Indiana. Those Screaming Eagles, meanwhile, fell five spots to No. 13.
Top-25 teams from last week moving up the most were No. 15 Lee (Tenn.) and No. 19 American International, which both improved six spots. For Lee, this is the highest rank in program history.
No. 12 Mount Olive moved up five spots from last time.
Joining the polls for the first time this year along with Hillsdale were No. 21 UC San Diego, No. 22 Missouri Southern, No. 24 Bellarmine and No. 25 Cal Baptist. For Bellarmine, this marks the first top-25 appearance since week six of the 2011 season.
See the full National Coaches’ Poll below.
The USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll for DII ranks the top 25 teams in the country. Voting panel of eight consists of the eight regional representatives, per gender.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division II
Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll
2016 Week #2 — September 21
next poll: September 28

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region (CR)	Conference	*Head Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Colorado Mines (7)	199	South Central (1)	RMAC	Chris Siemers (5th)	1
2	Grand Valley State (1)	189	Midwest (1)	GLIAC	Jerry Baltes (18th)	3
3	Adams State	187	South Central (2)	RMAC	Damon Martin (22nd)	2
4	Chico State	177	West (1)	CCAA	Gary Towne (21st)	4
5	Cal Poly Pomona	158	West (2)	CCAA	Octavious Gillespie-Bennett (5th)	10
6	Augustana (S.D.)	156	Central (1)	NSIC	Tracy Hellman (16th)	7
7	Shippensburg	153	Atlantic (1)	PSAC	Steve Spence (19th)	6
8	Western State	149	South Central (3)	RMAC	Jennifer Michel (10th)	9
9	Alaska Anchorage	140	West (3)	GNAC	Michael Friess (27th)	5
10	CSU-Pueblo	119	South Central (4)	RMAC	Matt Morris (4th)	11
11	Hillsdale	116	Midwest (2)	GLIAC	Andrew Towne (3rd)	RV
12	Mount Olive	97	Southeast (1)	Conf. Carolinas	Matt Van Lierop (8th)	17
13	Southern Indiana	95	Midwest (3)	GLVC	Mike Hillyard (19th)	8
14	Western Washington	91	West (4)	GNAC	Pee Wee Halsell (30th)	15
15	Lee (Tenn.)	89	South (1)	Gulf South	Caleb Morgan (3rd)	21
16	Lock Haven	70	Atlantic (2)	PSAC	Aaron Russell (19th)	15
17	West Texas A&M	66	South Central (5)	Lone Star	Darren Flowers (8th)	18
18	MSU Moorhead	64	Central (2)	NSIC	Ryan Milner (6th)	22
19	American International	61	East (1)	Northeast-10	Leo Mayo (11th)	25
20	Saginaw Valley State	54	Midwest (4)	GLIAC	Rod Cowan (7th)	20
21	UC San Diego	37	West (5)	CCAA	Nate Garcia (10th)	NR
22	Missouri Southern	35	Central (3)	MIAA	Bryan Schiding (4th)	NR
23	Stonehill	32	East (2)	Northeast-10	Karen Boen (19th)	19
24	Bellarmine	19	Midwest (5)	GLVC	Jim Vargo (17th)	NR
25	Cal Baptist	11	West (6)	PacWest	Ben Gall (5th)	RV
Also Receiving Votes: Walsh 10, Black Hills State 9, Harding 7, UW-Parkside 3, Edinboro 3, Queens (N.C.) 2, Lewis 1, Dallas Baptist 1
Dropped Out: No. 12 Lewis, No. 13 UW-Parkside, No. 14 East Central (Okla.), No. 23 SF State, No. 24 Walsh
(* year as head coach of that team in men’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)