Two Teams Share No. 1 Ranking In NCAA DIII XC Men’s Coaches’ Poll
By Tyler Mayforth, USTFCCCA
October 5, 2016
NEW ORLEANS — North Central (Ill.) had a lot riding on this past weekend.
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To not lose ground on SUNY Geneseo, North Central (Ill.) had to impress last Saturday at the Louisville Classic. The meet served as the defacto Pre-National Meet since the 2016 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships will be run on that same course come November 19.
Well, the Cardinals steamrolled the competition and the voting coaches took notice. That’s why in the most recent poll released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), North Central (Ill.) and SUNY Geneseo split eight first-place votes down the middle.
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WOMEN’S WEEK FOUR NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL
It’s a virtual tie as the Cardinals and Knights both own four first-place votes and a total score of 276 points. This is the first time in the history of the NCAA DIII Men’s Poll that two teams have shared the No. 1 spot. It happened once before in the Women’s Poll, back in 2009 when Calvin and Middlebury were Preseason No. 1s.
North Central (Ill.) dominated the proceedings in The Bluegrass State. The Cardinals, led by individual champion Zach Plank, put all seven runners in the top-15 (1-2-6-8-9-10-14). That’s no small feat considering the meet also included teams like Pomona-Pitzer (No. 5 at the time), Carnegie Mellon (No. 13) and Johns Hopkins (No. 18), among others.
Not to be outdone, SUNY Geneseo made quick work of the competition at its own Mike Woods Invitational. If it weren’t for a pesky alum, the Knights would have swept the race clean (15 points).
Look elsewhere in the poll and you’ll see only three teams remained in place from the previous week. Those teams would be SUNY Geneseo, third-ranked Williams and fourth-ranked UW-Eau Claire.
There were five teams that moved up eight or more spots and we’ll focus on them: St. Lawrence, NYU, Christopher Newport, Middlebury and SUNY Oneonta.
St. Lawrence went from No. 21 to No. 13 after a strong showing in the Men’s Gold Race at the Paul Short Run. The Saints finished 19th out of 37 teams and saw Thomas Caulfield nearly beat 2015 NCAA DI XC All-American Jonathan Green of Georgetown.
NYU jumped 12 spots (No. 29 to No. 17) behind a runner-up team finish in the Men’s Brown Race at the Paul Short Run. The Bobcats were eight points shy of knocking off a top-10 team in NCAA DII (Shippensburg) and received an amazing effort from former National Athlete of the Week Jorge Maldonado (2nd overall, 24:44.9).
Like St. Lawrence, Christopher Newport also competed in the Men’s Gold Race. The Captains didn’t have nearly the same kind of team finish as the Saints, but ended up beating six NCAA DI teams.
Both Middlebury and SUNY Oneonta took part in the Men’s Brown Race and finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The Panthers went from No. 33 to No. 21 this week and packed up well in the top one-third of the race (13-23-33-42). The Red Dragons saw Anthony Lupia finish fourth overall to help propel them up the poll from No. 35 to No. 26.
Three teams returned to the poll this week after a short absence: No. 25 Emory, No. 28 Ohio Northern and No. 34 Willamette.
As mentioned before, the 2016 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships will be held November 19 at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park in Louisville, Kentucky. The top-2 teams from each Regional Championship, as well as select at-large teams and individuals comprise the field from which an individual champion and team champion will be crowned.
USTFCCCA NCAA Division III | ||||||
Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll | ||||||
2016 Week #4 — October 5 | ||||||
| next poll: October 12 | ||||||
| Rank | Institution (FPV) | Points | Region (CR) | Conference | Head Coach (Yr*) |
Last
Week |
| 1 | SUNY Geneseo (4) | 276 | Atlantic (1) | SUNYAC | Dan Moore (2nd) |
1
|
| 1 | North Central (Ill.) (4) | 276 | Midwest (1) | CCIW | Al Carius (51st) |
2
|
| 3 | Williams | 264 | New England (1) | NESCAC | Pete Farwell (38th) |
3
|
| 4 | UW-Eau Claire | 256 | Midwest (2) | WIAC | Dan Schwamberger (10th) |
4
|
| 5 | MIT | 242 | New England (2) | NEWMAC | Halston Taylor (35th) |
6
|
| 6 | UW-La Crosse | 234 | Midwest (3) | WIAC | Derek Stanley (5th) |
8
|
| 7 | Pomona-Pitzer | 227 | West (1) | SCIAC | Tony Boston (9th) |
5
|
| 8 | Amherst | 219 | New England (3) | NESCAC | Ned Nedeau (20th) |
10
|
| 9 | Loras | 218 | Central (1) | IIAC | Bob Schultz (12th) |
11
|
| 10 | RPI | 204 | Atlantic (2) | Liberty League | John Lynch (6th) |
12
|
| 11 | St. Olaf | 194 | Central (2) | MIAC | Phil Lundin (9th) |
9
|
| 12 | Carnegie Mellon | 191 | Mideast (1) | UAA | Tim Connelly (2nd) |
13
|
| 13 | St. Lawrence | 178 | Atlantic (3) | Liberty League | John Newman (16th) |
21
|
| 14 | Claremont-Mudd-Scripps | 173 | West (2) | SCIAC | John Goldhammer (33rd) |
7
|
| 15 | Washington (Mo.) | 166 | Midwest (4) | UAA | Jeff Stiles (16th) |
16
|
| 16 | Colby | 160 | New England (4) | NESCAC | Jared Beers (11th) |
19
|
| 17 | NYU | 155 | Atlantic (4) | UAA | Erison Hurtault (1st) |
29
|
| 18 | Calvin | 154 | Great Lakes (1) | Michigan Intercollegiate | Brian Diemer (31st) |
14
|
| 19 | Christopher Newport | 144 | South/Southeast (1) | CAC | Matthew Barreau (6th) |
30
|
| 20 | Haverford | 138 | Mideast (2) | Centennial | Tom Donnelly (42nd) |
15
|
| 21 | Middlebury | 114 | New England (5) | NESCAC | Nicole Wilkerson (6th) |
33
|
| 22 | Johns Hopkins | 113 | Mideast (3) | Centennial | Bobby Van Allen (18th) |
18
|
| 23 | Mount Union | 103 | Great Lakes (2) | OAC | Kevin Lucas (6th) |
17
|
| 24 | Wartburg | 94 | Central (3) | IIAC | Ryan Chapman (1st) |
25
|
| 25 | Emory | 89 | South/Southeast (2) | UAA | John Curtin (32nd) |
RV
|
| 26 | SUNY Oneonta | 84 | Atlantic (5) | SUNYAC | Brett Willmott (1st) |
35
|
| 27 | Augustana (Ill.) | 72 | Midwest (5) | CCIW | Paul Olsen (51st) |
26
|
| 28 | Ohio Northern | 66 | Great Lakes (3) | OAC | Jason Maus (11th) |
RV
|
| 29 | Wabash | 47 | Great Lakes (4) | NCAC | Colin Young (2nd) |
20
|
| 30 | Tufts | 43 | New England (6) | NESCAC | Joel Williams (1st) |
31
|
| 31 | Chicago | 34 | Midwest (6) | UAA | Chris Hall (16th) |
22
|
| 32 | Gustavus Adolphus | 32 | Central (4) | MIAC | Dale Bahr (8th) |
28
|
| 33 | Dickinson | 29 | Mideast (4) | Centennial | Don Nichter (27th) |
27
|
| 34 | Willamette | 16 | West (3) | Northwest Conference | Matt McGuirk (13th) |
RV
|
| 34 | Allegheny (Pa.) | 16 | Great Lakes (5) | NCAC | Ben Mourer (1st) |
22
|
| Also Receiving Votes: UW-Platteville 9, Washington and Lee 5, Widener 3, TCNJ 1, Bates 1 | ||||||
| Dropped Out: No. 24 Bates, No. 32 UW-Oshkosh, No. 33 Widener | ||||||
| (* year as head coach of that team in men’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed) | ||||||
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