Last Regular-Season DII Women’s National Poll Sets Up Exciting Postseason
NEW ORLEANS – With conference championships in NCAA Division II Women’s Cross Country looming just two weekends away, the last National Coaches’ Poll of the regular season has been released.
National PDFs: Top 25 Summary | Week-by-Week 2016 | Week-by-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings PDFs: Regional Rankings Summary | Rankings Recap
Division II XC Polls/Rankings Central | MEN’S POLL
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Defending national champion Adams State remained the unanimous favorite in the poll announced Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), while Grand Valley State remained the consensus No. 2 team in the country.
No. 3 U-Mary and No. 4 Western State held steady.
Coming off a disappointing weekend at UC San Diego where they finished second behind Point Loma, the Wildcats of Chico State dropped five spots to No. 9 – opening the door for a number of teams to move up.
Minnesota Duluth rose one spot to No. 5, as did No. 6 Cedarville, No. 7 Southern Indiana and No. 8 Cal Baptist. The marks for Cedarville and Cal Baptist are the highest in program history.
Rounding out the top-10 was Northern Michigan, which improved one spot from last time.
Three conference championships will feature pairs of national top-10 teams. The RMAC Championships will pit No. 1 Adams State and No. 4 Western State against one another, the NSIC Championships will feature No. 3 U-Mary against No. 5 Minnesota Duluth, and the GLIAC Championships will see No. 2 GVSU and No. 10 Northern Michigan square off.
Rejuvenated by the 2016 debut of All-American Joyce Chelimo, No. 14 Alaska Anchorage returned to the top-25. The Seawolves won the women’s competition at Western Washington. No. 19 Simon Fraser also returned to the poll after a third-place finish in that same meet.
Two teams went from not even receiving votes to spots in the top-25 in No. 16 Point Loma Nazarene and No. 17 Fort Hays State.
This is the first-ever top-25 appearance for Point Loma, while Fort Hays State is also at an all-time program best and ranked for the first time since 2007.
See the full 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 |
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Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll |
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2016 Week #5 — October 12 |
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| next poll: October 26 | ||||||
| Rank | Institution (FPV) | Points | Region (CR) | Conference | Head Coach (Yr*) |
Last
Week |
| 1 | Adams State (8) | 200 | South Central | RMAC | Damon Martin (29th) |
1
|
| 2 | Grand Valley State | 192 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jerry Baltes (18th) |
2
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| 3 | U-Mary | 182 | Central | NSIC | Dennis Newell (11th) |
3
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| 4 | Western State | 175 | South Central | RMAC | Jennifer Michel (10th) |
4
|
| 5 | Minnesota Duluth | 167 | Central | NSIC | Joanna Warmington (6th) |
6
|
| 6 | Cedarville | 160 | Midwest | G-MAC | Jeff Bolender (7th) |
7
|
| 7 | Southern Indiana | 148 | Midwest | GLVC | Mike Hillyard (20th) |
8
|
| 8 | Cal Baptist | 145 | West | PacWest | Ben Gall (5th) |
9
|
| 9 | Chico State | 137 | West | CCAA | Gary Towne (21st) |
4
|
| 10 | Northern Michigan | 127 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jenny Ryan (10th) |
11
|
| 11 | UC-Colorado Springs | 116 | South Central | RMAC | Corey Kubatzky (2nd) |
12
|
| 12 | Hillsdale | 115 | Midwest | GLIAC | Andrew Towne (6th) |
10
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| 13 | Stonehill | 105 | East | Northeast-10 | Karen Boen (19th) |
13
|
| 14 | Alaska Anchorage | 96 | West | GNAC | Michael Friess (27th) |
RV
|
| 15 | Dallas Baptist | 84 | South Central | Heartland Conference | Jacob Phillips (12th) |
16
|
| 16 | Point Loma Nazarene | 64 | West | PacWest | Jerry Arvin |
NR
|
| 17 | Fort Hays State | 62 | Central | MIAA | Jason McCullough (12th) |
NR
|
| 18 | Malone | 58 | Midwest | G-MAC | Jack Hazen (26th) |
17
|
| 19 | Montevallo | 45 | Southeast | Peach Belt | Julia Marquardt (4th) |
19
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| 19 | Simon Fraser | 45 | West | GNAC | Brit Townsend (17th) |
NR
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| 21 | CSU-Pueblo | 36 | South Central | RMAC | Matt Morris (4th) |
21
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| 22 | Shippensburg | 32 | Atlantic | PSAC | Steve Spence (19th) |
22
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| 23 | Southwest Baptist | 31 | Central | MIAA | Corey McElhaney (9th) |
23
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| 24 | UC San Diego | 27 | West | CCAA | Nate Garcia (10th) |
14
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| 25 | Seattle Pacific | 13 | West | GNAC | Karl Lerum (4th) |
18
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| Also Receiving Votes: Lewis 11, Colorado Mines 8, Walsh 7, Saint Leo 7, Pittsburg State 4, Queens (N.C.) 1 | ||||||
| Dropped Out: No. 15 Western Washington, No. 19 Pittsburg State, No. 24 Augustana (S.D.), No. 25 Saint Leo | ||||||
| (* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed) | ||||||
