Tight Team Title Race Projected in Pre-Championships DII Women’s National Poll

NEW ORLEANS – Following a decisive victory in this weekend’s regional championships, the defending NCAA Division II Women’s Cross Country national champion Adams State Grizzlies are poised to make it two-in-a-row.

South Central Region winner Adams State checked in at No. 1 with seven of eight possible first-place votes in the last National Coaches’ Poll ahead of the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships on November 19 in Saint Leo, Florida.

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NCAA Division II National Coaches’ Poll Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Adams State GVSU U-Mary Western State Minnesota Duluth View Complete Women’s National Coaches’ Poll

The final first-place nod was cast in favor of Midwest Region winner No. 2 Grand Valley State.

Rounding out the top-five were No. 3 U-Mary, No. 4 Western State and No. 5 Minnesota Duluth.

The poll was announced Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Adams State cruised in the South Central with five runners in the top-15 and seven across the line before runner-up Western State’s fifth, resulting in a 43-71 romp.

GVSU, looking to restart its national title streak interrupted by the Grizzlies a year ago, also scored 43 points with five runners in the top-15 to win the Midwest Region. The Lakers topped No. 7 Cedarville – which clinched its first-ever NCAA Championships berth – by 60 points, getting all seven varsity runner through the chute before any other team could even muster three finishers.

No. 3 U-Mary, fresh off a 60-94 win over Minnesota Duluth in the Central, will look to parlay its best-ever regular season into an all-time NCAA performance. The Marauders had never been ranked higher than sixth entering NCAAs, and have never finished better than fifth once they’ve gotten there.

Completing the top-10 were West winner No. 6 Chico State, No. 7 Cedarville, No. 8 Southern Indiana, No. 9 Simon Fraser and No. 10 Alaska Anchorage.

Simon Fraser made a particularly strong impression with its runner-up finish in the West, jumping up seven spots from the pre-Regional Championship poll.

The Clan wasn’t the only squad from the West making its mark. Fourth-place Point Loma Nazarene moved up three spots to No. 15 as it prepares for its first-ever NCAA Championships appearance.

Just ahead of Point Loma at No. 14, CSU-Pueblo also broke through for its first-ever NCAA Championships berth.

In total, that’s actually an honor shared by seven women’s teams this year. In addition to Cedarville, CSU-Pueblo and Point Loma Nazarene, this year marks the first-ever appearances by vote-receiving Assumption and unranked Seton Hill, UPR Rio Piedras, and Lee (Tenn.).

A trio of teams returned to the top-25 in No. 16 Colorado Mines, No. 24 Queens (N.C.) and No. 25 Malone.

The West Region also accounted for the top-25 team that took the biggest tumble, as Cal Baptist tumbled 14 spots from inside the top-10 to No. 23.

The Lancers will still be at the Big Dance, however, which is a fate not shared by several of the previous poll’s top-25. Failing to advance were Dallas Baptist and Bellarmine.

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.