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Three New Men’s Regional No. 1 Teams After Wisconsin, Pre-Nats - USTFCCCAPublished by
By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA October 17, 2016
NEW ORLEANS – The dust has settled from a wild weekend of regular-season finale meets at Wisconsin and Pre-Nationals, revealing numerous changes atop the newest NCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country Regional Rankings. Of the nine overall regions, three checked in this week with new top-ranked teams in the rankings announced Monday morning by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Regional Rankings Summary PDF | Rankings Central | Women’s Rankings Only conference championships stand between now and the Regional Championships on Friday, November 11. The top two teams from each of the nine regions will earn automatic berths into the NCAA Championships on November 19 in Terre Haute, Indiana, while 13 more teams will earn at-large bids based on their season-long body of work and regional finishes. Perhaps the most significant shift – certainly in terms of what might happen in Tuesday’s National Coaches’ Poll (revealed live on the “Cross Country U” podcast at noon ET) – was out in the West Region. With former regional No. 1 Portland finishing seventh at Wisconsin behind two other teams from the West (Stanford and UCLA), the top spot was up for grabs. It was ultimately Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational runner-up Stanford that moved up three spots to claim it, leapfrogging Pre-Nationals team champion Oregon. The national No. 11 Cardinal took down both No. 3BYU and defending national champion No. 2 Syracuse along the way, falling only to top-ranked Northern Arizona. National No. 4 Oregon swept the team and individual titles at Pre-Nationals, defeating No. 5 Arkansas and No. 6 Colorado behind a decisive win by three-time national champion Edward Cheserek. UCLA, a surprise sixth-place finisher at Wisconsin, moved up two spots to No. 3 in the West, while Portland fell to fourth. Meanwhile in the Southeast Region, it was Virginia that assumed control of the top spot. The Cavaliers took command of the region after former regional favorite Eastern Kentucky dropped four spots to No. 5 with disappointing split-squad showings at both Wisconsin and Pre-Nationals. Also moving up to fill the void left by the Colonels’ drop were No. 2 Virginia Tech, No. 3 Kentucky and No. 4Furman. The latter two moved up three and five spots, respectively. Should the third-ranked Wildcats break through and qualify for NCAAs, it would be their first appearance since 2003 and just the second since 1992. The Great Lakes Region also saw its top-ranked team falter this weekend, as former favorite Indiana finished fifth at Pre-Nationals. The Hoosiers dropped four spots to No. 5 as a result, opening the door for Wisconsinto move up one spot and reclaim the top spot. The Badgers were 11th at their home Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, while Pre-Nationals fourth-placingMichigan moved up to No. 2. Eastern Michigan turned in a 17th-place showing at Wisconsin to move to third in the region. No other teams moved into automatic qualifying position within their regions, but Navy moved up onto the bubble at No. 3 in the Mid-Atlantic. See the full regional rankings below.
Read the full article at: www.ustfccca.org
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