THE CONNING TOWER by Keith Conning: DII Men’s National Poll Sets the Stage for Conference Championships

Thursday, October 13, 2016

DII Men’s National Poll Sets the Stage for Conference Championships

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

October 12, 2016

NEW ORLEANS – The postseason has all but arrived in NCAA Division II Men’s Cross Country, and the last regular-season edition of the National Coaches’ Poll sets the stage for what should be dramatic conference championships in two weekends’ time.
Support has begun to coalesce for Adams State as the top team in the nation, as the Grizzlies earned seven of the eight possible first-place votes in the poll announced Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
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NCAA Division II National Coaches’ Poll Top 5 – Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Adams State	GVSU	Colorado Mines	Chico State	Cal Poly Pomona
View Complete Men’s National Coaches’ Poll

Just one week ago, four teams were garnering first-place nods; this week, it’s down to two. Only No. 2 Grand Valley State managed to hold on to a top vote of its own, though both defending national champion No. 3 Colorado Mines and No. 4 Chico State stayed put in the poll.
Cal Poly Pomona also remained stationary to round out the top five.
It was a relatively quiet week in the top 10, as No. 6 Western State swapped spots with No. 8 CSU-Pueblo, and Alaska Anchorage dropped a spot to No. 9. Completing the top-10 were a pair of stationary teams in No. 7 Augustana (S.D.) and No. 10 Southern Indiana.
Led by No. 1 Adams State and defending national champ Colorado Mines, the RMAC has four teams ranked top-eight in the nation – setting up an exciting showdown at Black Hills State on October 22. Host Black Hills State also moved up in the rankings this week, checking in at No. 13 with a one-spot gain.
The CCAA should be likewise compelling as No. 4 Chico State and No. 5 Cal Poly Pomona square off on CPP’s turf on October 22. They’ll both be challenged by No. 12 UC San Diego.
Elsewhere in the poll, Lee (Tenn.) moved up 10 spots to No. 14 – its highest rank in program history – with a win at the Royals Challenge over No. 17 Mount Olive, 58-70.
Academy of Art broke into the top-25 for the first time in program history, checking in at No. 24 after winning the SF State Invitational.
No. 25 Lewis returned to the top-25 after a strong third-place showing at its Conference Crossover meet this past weekend behind top-10 GVSU and USI.
The full poll can be found 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 #5 — October 12
next poll: October 26

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region (CR)	Conference	*Head Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Adams State (7)	199	South Central	RMAC	Damon Martin (22nd)	1
2	Grand Valley State (1)	193	Midwest	GLIAC	Jerry Baltes (18th)	2
3	Colorado Mines	181	South Central	RMAC	Chris Siemers (5th)	3
4	Chico State	179	West	CCAA	Gary Towne (21st)	4
5	Cal Poly Pomona	167	West	CCAA	Octavious Gillespie-Bennett (5th)	5
6	Western State	157	South Central	RMAC	Jennifer Michel (10th)	8
7	Augustana (S.D.)	151	Central	NSIC	Tracy Hellman (16th)	7
8	CSU-Pueblo	142	South Central	RMAC	Matt Morris (4th)	6
9	Alaska Anchorage	138	West	GNAC	Michael Friess (27th)	8
10	Southern Indiana	133	Midwest	GLVC	Mike Hillyard (19th)	10
11	Hillsdale	116	Midwest	GLIAC	Andrew Towne (3rd)	11
12	UC San Diego	111	West	CCAA	Nate Garcia (10th)	12
13	Black Hills State	80	South Central	RMAC	Scott Walkinshaw (19th)	14
14	Lee (Tenn.)	78	South	Gulf South	Caleb Morgan (3rd)	24
15	Saginaw Valley State	75	Midwest	GLIAC	Rod Cowan (7th)	16
16	Missouri Southern	73	Central	MIAA	Bryan Schiding (4th)	14
17	Cal Baptist	66	West	PacWest	Ben Gall (5th)	18
17	Mount Olive	66	Southeast	Conf. Carolinas	Matt Van Lierop (8th)	13
19	American International	57	East	Northeast-10	Leo Mayo (11th)	19
20	Lock Haven	49	Atlantic	PSAC	Aaron Russell (19th)	17
21	Walsh	48	Midwest	GLIAC	Rob Mizicko (5th)	21
22	West Texas A&M	36	South Central	Lone Star	Darren Flowers (8th)	25
23	Shippensburg	32	Atlantic	PSAC	Steve Spence (19th)	20
24	Academy of Art	26	West	PacWest	Torrey Olson (2nd)	RV
25	Lewis	20	Midwest	GLVC	James Kearney (3rd)	RV
Also Receiving Votes: Bellarmine 12, MSU Moorhead 7, Simon Fraser 7, Stonehill 1
Dropped Out: No. 22 Western Washington, No. 23 Bellarmine
(* year as head coach of that team in men’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)