Conference Results Bring About Changes to DIII National Poll

NEW ORLEANS– If the conference championships – and the ensuing National Coaches’ Poll released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA) – prove anything, we’re going to be in for a treat down the stretch in NCAA Division III Cross Country.
Competition was fierce around the nation this past weekend. Teams fought for position as they tried to get a leg up on each other before next week’s regional championships.
National PDFs: Week 7 Top 35 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All Time
Regional Rankings: Week 7 Summary | Week 7 RecapDivision III Rankings/Polls Homepage: Link

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

While the UW-Eau Claire men and Johns Hopkins women both remained No. 1 in their respective polls, one of those teams wasn’t a clear-cut favorite any longer. That would be the Blugolds, as they’re no longer unanimous.
Williams nabbed three first-place votes this week following a dominant performance at the NESCAC Championships. The second-ranked Ephs cruised to a 36-61 win over No. 5 Amherst and put four runners in the top-10, led by senior Bijan Mazaheri.
Even though the Williams women – who are also ranked No. 2 this week – put together a strong outing at the same meet (won 30-66 over No. 5 Tufts), they didn’t steal any top nods from the Blue Jays who won their eighth consecutive Centennial championship.
That NESCAC meet led to some major changes in this week’s poll, specifically on the men’s side. Third-place finisher Tufts went from No. 31 to No. 17, fourth-place Hamilton returned to the poll at No. 28 after dropping out last week and Bates tumbled from 19th to 35th following its seventh-place effort.
Outside of RPI surging from No. 22 to No. 10 and earning its highest ranking in school history after winning the Liberty Conference, the biggest changes to the women’s poll were a result of what happened at the University Athletic Association meet. Washington (Mo.) won and is back to No. 4, Rochester (N.Y.) placed second and went from No. 25 to No. 17, while the University of Chicago (No. 10 to No. 16), Emory (No. 14 to No. 27) and Brandeis (No. 21 to No. 28) all fell.
There is only one completely new addition to the poll this week as the Saint John’s (Minn.) men take over the 33rd spot.
Seven former ranked teams returned to the poll this week, including the aforementioned Hamilton men: the University of Chicago men (29th), the Middlebury men (30th), the Ohio Northern men (31st), the Amherst women (tied for 21st), the Otterbein women (30th) and the Elizabethtown women (31st).
The countdown until the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships is on. There are 17 days until runners take to the starting line at the Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, Wisconsin.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III
Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll
2015 Week #7 — November 4 (pre-regional)
next poll: MONDAY, November 16
Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	Head Coach (Yr*)	Last Week
1	UW-Eau Claire (5)	277	Midwest	WIAC	Dan Schwamberger (9th)	1
2	Williams (3)	274	New England	NESCAC	Pete Farwell (37th)	2
3	North Central (Ill.)	263	Midwest	CCIW	Al Carius (50th)	3
4	St. Olaf	258	Central	MIAC	Phil Lundin (8th)	4
5	Amherst	245	New England	NESCAC	Ned Nedeau (19th)	5
6	SUNY Geneseo	241	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Dan Moore (1st)	6
7	Haverford	230	Mideast	Centennial	Tom Donnelly (41st)	8
8	MIT	224	New England	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (34th)	10
9	St. Lawrence	220	Atlantic	Liberty League	John Newman (15th)	7
10	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	205	West	SCIAC	John Goldhammer (32nd)	11
11	Allegheny (Pa.)	202	Great Lakes	NCAC	Brent Wilkerson (6th)	15
12	Wabash	187	Great Lakes	NCAC	Colin Young (1st)	13
13	UW-La Crosse	185	Midwest	WIAC	Derek Stanley (4th)	8
14	Carnegie Mellon	178	Mideast	UAA	Tim Connelly (1st)	22
15	UW-Oshkosh	165	Midwest	WIAC	Eamon McKenna (4th)	20
16	Washington (Mo.)	153	Midwest	UAA	Jeff Stiles (15th)	16
17	Tufts	150	New England	NESCAC	Michael Schmidt (1st)	31
18	TCNJ	147	Atlantic	NJAC	Justin Lindsey (3rd)	18
19	Loras	137	Central	IIAC	Bob Schultz (11th)	25
20	Central (Iowa)	118	Central	IIAC	Joe Dunham (8th)	17
21	Willamette	113	West	Northwest Conference	Matt McGuirk (12th)	32
22	Johns Hopkins	104	Mideast	Centennial	Bobby Van Allen (17th)	23
23	Augustana (Ill.)	102	Midwest	CCIW	Paul Olsen (50th)	24
24	Calvin	94	Great Lakes	Michigan Intercollegiate	Brian Diemer (30th)	26
25	Pomona-Pitzer	92	West	SCIAC	Tony Boston (8th)	14
26	Ramapo	89	Atlantic	NJAC	Mike Jackson (12th)	30
27	Elizabethtown	86	Mideast	Landmark	Brian Falk (5th)	27
28	Hamilton	65	Atlantic	NESCAC	Brett Hull (25th)	RV
29	Chicago	53	Midwest	UAA	Chris Hall (15th)	NR
30	Middlebury	52	New England	NESCAC	Nicole Wilkerson (5th)	NR
31	Ohio Northern	44	Great Lakes	OAC	Jason Maus (10th)	RV
32	Wesleyan (Conn.)	25	New England	NESCAC	John Crooke (16th)	29
33	Saint John’s (Minn.)	22	Central	MIAC	Tim Miles (37th)	NR
34	NYU	16	Atlantic	UAA	Will Boylan-Pett (2nd)	21
35	Bates	7	New England	NESCAC	Al Fereshetian (21st)	19
Also Receiving Votes: Oberlin 6, Carleton 4, Dickinson 3, UW-Platteville 3, Widener 1
Dropped Out: No. 11 UW-Stevens Point, No. 28 Wartburg, No. 33 St. Thomas (Minn.), No. 34 RPI, No. 35 Oberlin
(* 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 #7 — November 4 (pre-regional)
next poll: MONDAY, November 16
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	MIT	264	New England	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (9th)	3
4	Washington (Mo.)	251	Midwest	UAA	Jeff Stiles (15th)	5
5	Tufts	250	New England	NESCAC	Kristen Morwick (16th)	4
6	SUNY Geneseo	242	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Dan Moore (1st)	6
7	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	230	West	SCIAC	John Goldhammer (32nd)	8
8	Middlebury	224	New England	NESCAC	Nicole Wilkerson (5th)	7
9	Whitworth	218	West	Northwest Conference	Toby Schwarz (20th)	12
10	RPI	198	Atlantic	Liberty League	John Lynch (5th)	22
11	Willamette	196	West	Northwest Conference	Matt McGuirk (12th)	9
12	Hope	189	Great Lakes	Michigan Intercollegiate	Mark Northuis (28th)	11
13	St. Lawrence	181	Atlantic	Liberty League	Mike Howard (17th)	18
14	Carleton	180	Central	MIAC	Donna Ricks (23rd)	16
15	SUNY Oneonta	168	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Angelo Posillico (6th)	19
16	Chicago	162	Midwest	UAA	Chris Hall (15th)	10
17	Rochester (N.Y.)	156	Atlantic	UAA	Eddie Novara (1st)	25
18	Keene State	143	New England	Little East	Tom Pickering (1st)	15
19	UW-Oshkosh	134	Midwest	WIAC	Eamon McKenna (1st)	29
20	Haverford	127	Mideast	Centennial	Fran Rizzo (25th)	27
21	Dickinson	104	Mideast	Centennial	Don Nichter (26th)	20
21	Amherst	104	New England	NESCAC	Cassie Funke-Harris (4th)	NR
23	UW-La Crosse	98	Midwest	WIAC	Derek Stanley (4th)	13
24	St. Thomas (Minn.)	94	Central	MIAC	Joe Sweeney (36th)	23
25	RIT	90	Atlantic	Liberty League	David Stevens (8th)	17
25	Calvin	90	Great Lakes	Michigan Intercollegiate	Brian Diemer (10th)	28
27	Emory	78	South/Southeast	UAA	John Curtin (31st)	14
28	Brandeis	71	New England	UAA	Sinead Evans (2nd)	21
29	SUNY Cortland	43	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Steve Patrick (8th)	30
30	Otterbein	40	Great Lakes	OAC	Dara Ford (2nd)	NR
31	Elizabethtown	37	Mideast	Landmark	Brian Falk (8th)	NR
32	Cornell College	33	Central	Midwest Conference	Dan Schofer (10th)	31
32	Wellesley	33	New England	NEWMAC	Phil Jennings (3rd)	26
34	UW-Eau Claire	28	Midwest	WIAC	Dan Schwamberger (9th)	23
35	Swarthmore	15	Mideast	Centennial	Peter Carroll (16th)	33
Also Receiving Votes: TCNJ 14, North Central (Ill.) 2, Christopher Newport 1
Dropped Out: No. 32 Colby, No. 34 TCNJ, No. 35 Carnegie Mellon, No. 35 North Central (Ill.)
(* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)