Movers And Shakers Highlight NCAA DIII XC Women’s Poll

By Tyler Mayforth, USTFCCCA

September 14, 2016

An earlier version of this post had the incorrect rankings listed at the bottom. That has since been corrected.
NEW ORLEANS — Take a look at the top of the NCAA Division III Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) and you’ll see not much has changed.

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

Defending champion Williams is still the unanimous No. 1 (eight first-place votes) and is followed by second-ranked SUNY Geneseo, third-ranked Johns Hopkins and fourth-ranked Washington (Mo.).
Where it gets interesting is from No. 5 to No. 9 and elsewhere in the top-35.
MIT jumped two spots from No. 7 to No. 5, forcing Tufts and SUNY Oneonta down one slot each. The Engineers haven’t showed off their entire lineup, but should in two weeks’ time at the Purple Valley Classic at Williams College.
NATIONAL PDFs: Summary | Week-By-Week 2016 | Week-By-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings: Week 1 Summary | Week 1 Recap
MEN’S WEEK ONE NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and RPI swapped spots with the Athenas going from No. 11 to No. 9 and the Engineers from No. 9 to No. 11. CMS last competed at the Biola Invite alongside DII Cal Baptist and Biola, the second-ranked NAIA team, and held its own.
Of all teams on the move in the poll, Calvin surged the most in any direction. And for the Knights, it’s the only direction that matters — up. Calvin went from No. 20 to No. 13 following a spirited effort at its home invitational. The Knights rolled to an easy win over the field, scoring just 32 points and putting five runners inside the top-10.
The only other team to move four or more spots in the positive direction was that of Emory. The Eagles last competed at the Furman Cross Country Classic this past weekend and finished second behind Montevallo in the Non-Division I section.
There were four new additions to the poll this week: No. 30 Whitworth, No. 31 Wartburg, No. 33 Stevens and No. 34 St. Olaf. Three of those teams (Whitworth, Stevens and St. Olaf) weren’t ranked in the preseason nor did they receive votes.
Looking ahead there are three important dates to remember: October 29, November 12 and November 19. Those are the dates for conference meets, regional meets and finally the 2016 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships. We’ll be sure to learn a lot more about all of these teams leading up to those showdowns.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III
Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll
2016 Week #1 — September 14
next poll: September 21

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region (CR)	Conference	*Head Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Williams (8)	280	New England (1)	NESCAC	Pete Farwell (17th)	1
2	SUNY Geneseo	269	Atlantic (1)	SUNYAC	Dan Moore (2nd)	2
3	Johns Hopkins	266	Mideast (1)	Centennial	Bobby Van Allen (18th)	3
4	Washington (Mo.)	255	Midwest (1)	UAA	Jeff Stiles (16th)	4
5	MIT	248	New England (2)	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (10th)	7
6	Tufts	236	New England (3)	NESCAC	Kristen Morwick (17th)	5
7	SUNY Oneonta	233	Atlantic (2)	SUNYAC	Brett Willmott (1st)	6
8	Middlebury	221	New England (4)	NESCAC	Nicole Wilkerson (6th)	8
9	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	213	West (1)	SCIAC	John Goldhammer (33rd)	11
10	UW-La Crosse	206	Midwest (2)	WIAC	Derek Stanley (5th)	10
11	RPI	204	Atlantic (3)	Liberty League	John Lynch (6th)	9
12	Rochester (N.Y.)	191	Atlantic (4)	UAA	Eddie Novara (2nd)	12
13	Calvin	179	Great Lakes (1)	Michigan Intercollegiate	Brian Diemer (11th)	20
14	St. Thomas (Minn.)	178	Central (1)	MIAC	Joe Sweeney (37th)	15
15	Hope	165	Great Lakes (2)	Michigan Intercollegiate	Mark Northuis (29th)	13
16	Haverford	162	Mideast (2)	Centennial	Fran Rizzo (26th)	14
17	Emory	149	South/Southeast (1)	UAA	John Curtin (32nd)	21
18	Carleton	145	Central (2)	MIAC	Donna Ricks (24th)	19
19	UW-Eau Claire	142	Midwest (3)	WIAC	Dan Schwamberger (10th)	17
20	St. Lawrence	120	Atlantic (5)	Liberty League	Kate Curran (1st)	22
21	Colorado College	118	West (2)	SCAC	Ted Castaneda (25th)	16
22	Elizabethtown	105	Mideast (3)	Landmark	Brian Falk (9th)	18
23	Amherst	104	New England (5)	NESCAC	Cassie Funke-Harris (5th)	25
24	UW-Oshkosh	97	Midwest (4)	WIAC	Eamon McKenna (2nd)	24
25	Chicago	81	Midwest (5)	UAA	Chris Hall (16th)	26
26	Willamette	80	West (3)	Northwest Conference	Matt McGuirk (13th)	23
27	Allegheny (Pa.)	74	Great Lakes (3)	NCAC	Ben Mourer (1st)	29
28	Wellesley	55	New England (6)	NEWMAC	Phil Jennings (4th)	27
29	Ithaca	49	Atlantic (6)	Empire 8	Erin Dinan (5th)	28
30	Whitworth	44	West (4)	Northwest Conference	Toby Schwarz (21st)	NR
31	Wartburg	41	Central (3)	IIAC	Ryan Chapman (1st)	RV
32	Dickinson	39	Mideast (4)	Centennial	Don Nichter (27th)	35
33	Stevens	26	Atlantic (7)	Empire 8	Justin Wood (5th)	NR
34	St. Olaf	23	Central (4)	MIAC	Chris Daymont (36th)	NR
35	Oberlin	11	Great Lakes (4)	NCAC	Ray Appenheimer (11th)	32
Also Receiving Votes: Rhodes 10, Brandeis 8, St. Norbert 6, Loras 4, DeSales 3
Dropped Out: No. 30 Loras, No. 31 Macalester, No. 33 Brandeis, No. 34 Rhodes
(* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)