Calm Before the Storm in DIII National Coaches’ Polls

Courtesy By Tyler Mayforth, USTFCCCA

October 14, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – Don’t think for a second that just because it was a light weekend of racing there wouldn’t be any movement in the NCAA Division III Cross Country National Coaches’ Polls.
The winds of change continued to blow through the newest polls, as released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
National PDFs: Week 5 Top 35 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All Time
Regional Rankings: Week 5 Summary | Week 5 RecapDivision III Rankings/Polls Homepage: Link

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
UW-Eau Claire	Amherst	North Central (Ill.)	St. Olaf	Washington (Mo.)
View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Women
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Johns Hopkins	Williams	Tufts	MIT	Washington (Mo.)
View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

For the second consecutive week, the men’s former No. 1 team – and reigning national champion, at that – North Central (Ill.) fell further down the poll. Last week the Cardinals slid from No. 1 to No. 2 and this week, they went from No. 2 to No. 3. If North Central (Ill.) tumbles any more, it will be the first time since 2008 that the Cardinals were ranked below No. 3.
Taking residence behind men’s current No. 1 UW-Eau Claire is new-No. 2 Amherst. This past weekend the Lord Jeffs placed second at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association Cross Country Championships behind a strong showing by three-time DIII National Athlete of the Week Mohamed Hussein.
To make way for Amherst, St. Olaf College joined North Central (Ill.) as the other team to drop one spot. The Oles went from No. 3 last week to No. 4 this week.
There weren’t many other changes from No. 5 to No. 20 in the men’s poll. After No. 20, there were two teams that moved up four or more spots and three additions to the poll.
Tufts went from No. 30 to No. 24 and UW-Platteville surged from No. 29 to No. 25. Hamilton (No. 31) is ranked for the first time in program history and Rowan (No. 35) is back in the poll for the first time since 2011. Calvin (No. 34) returns after a one-week hiatus.
Over in the women’s poll, it’s status quo from No. 1 to No. 10. Reigning national champ Johns Hopkins is still No. 1 and it’s the same until you get to No. 10 Hope.
Women’s teams making the most noise were Whitworth (No. 21 to No. 18), Brandeis (No. 22 to No. 19), Wellesley (No. 31 to No. 23) and Dickinson (No. 30 to No. 25).
Amherst’s women slipped the most spots out of either poll, going down 13 spots from No. 15 last week to No. 28 this week.
Two meets this weekend should have major implications on next week’s polls – the Rowan Inter-Regional Border Battle and the UW-Oshkosh AAE Invitational. Those meets will be packed with nationally-ranked teams, especially the latter as it will serve as the Pre-Nationals for Division III.
These will all serve as a warm-up for the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships, wihich will be held November 21 in Winneconne, Wisconsin.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III
Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll
2015 Week #5 — October 14
next poll: October 21

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	*Head Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	UW-Eau Claire (8)	280	Midwest	WIAC	Dan Schwamberger (9th)	1
2	Amherst	266	New England	NESCAC	Ned Nedeau (19th)	4
3	North Central (Ill.)	264	Midwest	CCIW	Al Carius (50th)	2
4	St. Olaf	262	Central	MIAC	Phil Lundin (8th)	3
5	Washington (Mo.)	248	Midwest	UAA	Jeff Stiles (15th)	5
6	SUNY Geneseo	239	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Dan Moore (1st)	6
7	Williams	231	New England	NESCAC	Pete Farwell (37th)	7
8	UW-La Crosse	224	Midwest	WIAC	Derek Stanley (4th)	8
9	Haverford	213	Mideast	Centennial	Tom Donnelly (41st)	9
10	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	210	West	SCIAC	John Goldhammer (32nd)	10
11	Wabash	195	Great Lakes	NCAC	Colin Young (1st)	11
12	MIT	191	New England	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (34th)	13
13	St. Lawrence	190	Atlantic	Liberty League	John Newman (15th)	11
14	UW-Oshkosh	174	Midwest	WIAC	Eamon McKenna (4th)	14
15	Carnegie Mellon	168	Mideast	UAA	Tim Connelly (1st)	15
16	Pomona-Pitzer	159	West	SCIAC	Tony Boston (8th)	16
17	Allegheny (Pa.)	153	Great Lakes	NCAC	Brent Wilkerson (6th)	17
18	Johns Hopkins	145	Mideast	Centennial	Bobby Van Allen (17th)	18
19	Bates	133	New England	NESCAC	Al Fereshetian (21st)	19
20	Ohio Northern	129	Great Lakes	OAC	Jason Maus (10th)	20
21	Wartburg	119	Central	IIAC	Steve Johnson (27th)	22
22	Wesleyan (Conn.)	117	New England	NESCAC	John Crooke (16th)	21
23	Augustana (Ill.)	90	Midwest	CCIW	Paul Olsen (50th)	23
24	Tufts	84	New England	NESCAC	Michael Schmidt (1st)	30
25	UW-Platteville	82	Midwest	WIAC	Tom Antczak (23rd)	29
26	Loras	79	Central	IIAC	Bob Schultz (11th)	24
27	John Carroll	72	Great Lakes	OAC	Kyle Basista (2nd)	26
28	RPI	69	Atlantic	Liberty League	John Lynch (5th)	27
29	Colby	64	New England	NESCAC	Jared Beers (10th)	25
30	St. Thomas (Minn.)	55	Central	MIAC	Pete Wareham (23rd)	28
31	Hamilton	35	Atlantic	NESCAC	Brett Hull (25th)	RV
32	Central (Iowa)	30	Central	IIAC	Joe Dunham (8th)	31
33	Willamette	28	West	Northwest	Matt McGuirk (12th)	32
34	Calvin	20	Great Lakes	MIAA	Brian Diemer (30th)	RV
35	Rowan	8	Atlantic	NJAC	Dustin Dimit (2nd)	RV
Also Receiving Votes: Middlebury 4, Emory 4, TCNJ 2, Elizabethtown 2, Puget Sound 2
Dropped Out: No. 33 NYU, No. 34 Emory, No. 34 Middlebury
(* year as head coach of that team in men’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III
Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll
2015 Week #5 — October 14
next poll: October 21

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	*Head Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Johns Hopkins (8)	280	Mideast	Centennial	Bobby Van Allen (17th)	1
2	Williams	272	New England	NESCAC	Pete Farwell (16th)	2
3	Tufts	262	New England	NESCAC	Kristen Morwick (16th)	3
4	MIT	255	New England	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (9th)	4
5	Washington (Mo.)	251	Midwest	UAA	Jeff Stiles (15th)	5
6	SUNY Geneseo	239	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Dan Moore (1st)	6
7	Middlebury	232	New England	NESCAC	Nicole Wilkerson (5th)	7
8	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	223	West	SCIAC	John Goldhammer (32nd)	8
9	St. Lawrence	214	Atlantic	Liberty League	Mike Howard (17th)	9
10	Hope	205	Great Lakes	MIAA	Mark Northuis (28th)	10
11	Carleton	195	Central	MIAC	Donna Ricks (23rd)	12
12	SUNY Oneonta	188	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Angelo Posillico (6th)	12
13	Chicago	176	Midwest	UAA	Chris Hall (15th)	11
14	Willamette	172	West	Northwest	Matt McGuirk (12th)	14
15	Otterbein	158	Great Lakes	OAC	Dara Ford (2nd)	16
16	RIT	146	Atlantic	Liberty League	David Stevens (8th)	17
17	UW-La Crosse	143	Midwest	WIAC	Derek Stanley (4th)	18
18	Whitworth	139	West	Northwest	Toby Schwarz (20th)	21
19	Brandeis	130	New England	UAA	Sinead Evans (2nd)	22
20	Swarthmore	127	Mideast	Centennial	Peter Carroll (16th)	19
21	RPI	126	Atlantic	Liberty League	John Lynch (5th)	20
22	St. Olaf	112	Central	MIAC	Chris Daymont (35th)	23
23	Wellesley	102	New England	NEWMAC	Phil Jennings (3rd)	31
24	Calvin	99	Great Lakes	MIAA	Brian Diemer (10th)	24
25	Dickinson	82	Mideast	Centennial	Don Nichter (26th)	30
26	UW-Eau Claire	75	Midwest	WIAC	Dan Schwamberger (9th)	25
27	Emory	71	South/Southeast	UAA	John Curtin (31st)	28
28	Amherst	69	New England	NESCAC	Cassie Funke-Harris (4th)	15
29	Haverford	63	Mideast	Centennial	Fran Rizzo (25th)	26
30	St. Thomas (Minn.)	49	Central	MIAC	Joe Sweeney (36th)	34
31	Keene State	48	New England	Little East	Tom Pickering (1st)	27
32	SUNY Cortland	30	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Steve Patrick (8th)	33
33	Colby	29	New England	NESCAC	Deb Aitken (31st)	28
34	Allegheny (Pa.)	26	Great Lakes	NCAC	Brent Wilkerson (6th)	31
35	Cornell College	24	Central	Midwest	Dan Schofer (10th)	35
Also Receiving Votes: North Central (Ill.) 15, Elizabethtown 6, Bates 2, Mount Union 2, Trinity (Texas) 1, St. Benedict 1, Misericordia 1, Mount Union 4, St. Benedict 3, Luther 2, Bates 2, Elizabethtown 1, Christopher Newport 1
Dropped Out: (none)
(* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)