Three weeks into the season and things are really starting to heat up, as more teams have common meets on their schedules we get to see small previews of regional meets to come. Before i start on this week's recap, I want to apologize for those that had to continually scroll across the screen to view last week's article. Something was messed up with the format, and I hope that this week will not have the same problem.

On Thursday, the National Coaches Association released their second poll of 2008 and their first of the regular season. Not a whole lot changed at the top, but as to be expected a few teams went on and off the poll, and other made some significant leaps. On the men's side Case Western Reserve University made the largest gain, going from 24th to 16th on the backs of their victory over Allegheny (then 14th, now 20th). On the women's side, Grove City College, a small liberal arts college more known for their supreme court case involving Title IX in the 1980's debuted on the poll at the 27th spot. The Polls look like so...

Women:

Men: 

As we look over how the regions look in terms of qualifying for nationals, it looks as though on the Women's side the North East, Mid West, Central and Atlantic will get 5 teams (max allowed) in, while the Great Lakes and Mid East will qualify 4, while the west and Southeast will get no more than their 2 automatic (although in this case all 4 of these teams are ranked in the top 32). For the Men, the North East, Great Lakes, Mid West, and Mid East look to get in 5 teams, while the Central and Atlantic will qualify 4 a piece and the west and south get their 2 auto spots (Texas-Tyler ranked T29 preseason, and no longer ranked in the top 32 or 35 but would appear to go to nationals as the second team in the south). 

Over all the Midwest leads all regions with 13 teams total in the top 35, and the UAA, NASCAC and Wisconsin conference all tie with 8 teams total on the polls. 

Results:

WOMEN:

Number 3 Wisconsin Eau Claire was the highest ranked team to compete this week, winning the Whitewater invite with 31 points over conference rival 9th ranked Wisconsin Platteville which scored 69 points

4th ranked Luther fell at home to 16th ranked Wisconsin Lacrosse by 3 points

5th ranked Washington University, which appeared to run most if not all of their top runners finished a distant 9th at Grinnell, behind 12th ranked Wartburg, which won the invite, and 22nd ranked Loras, which took 6th at the meet. 

6th Ranked Suny Geneseo split their squad this week, with the A team finishing 5th at the Spiked Shoe Invite ahead of 32nd ranked Dickinson, which finished 8th (Syracuse and Penn State went 1-2 at the meet). Earlier in the week, Dickinson defeated conference rivals Franklin and Marshall 15-46 and Gettysburg College 24-34. Geneseo's B team came in 4th at Brockport, where the 31st ranked hosts were victorious. 

Ithaca ranked 13th won the Oswego invite ahead of 24th ranked SUNY Cortland which rested 4 of their top 7 runners. 

15th ranked TCNJ was 9th at Princeton where Georgetown and Villanova went 1-2 overall

St. Thomas ranked 21st won the St. John's invite with 7 in the top 15 to score 33 points

23rd ranked MIT won their home invite at Franklin Park

Oberlin ranked 25th put 3 in the top 5 to win their home invite with 35 points

26th ranked Claremont took 2nd to SoCal rival Pamona-Pitzer at the Redlands invite

27th Ranked Grove City may have a short stay in the top 35 as they finished 4th at the Waynesburg 6k, well behind 30th ranked Messiah College

28th ranked Wheaton (IL) was 3rd at Aurora

Finally, the 35th ranked Tufts Jumbos were victorious on their home course.

MEN:

1st ranked SUNY Cortland rested 6 of their top runners in a 3rd place showing at Oswego

3rd ranked Wisconsin Lacrosse finished 2nd to conference rival River Falls at the Luther Invite. The hosts ranked 15th came in 3rd

Carnegie Mellon ranked 5th, finished 6th at Waynesburg with their B Team. 20th Ranked Allegheny took first overall at this meet.

North Central ranked 7th scored 15 points to sweep the Bradley Invite

SUNY Geneseo tied for 17th split their squad this weekend. The B team finished 5th at Brockport, while their A team competed at the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invite, finishing 4th overall behind Syracuse and Columbia and ahead of 19th ranked Dickinson which came in 5th. The Red Devils competed earlier in the week as well against Centennial Conference Rivals, defeating Franklin and Marshall 15 to 50 and Gettysburg 15-49. 

The other team ranked 17th, Heidelberg College, finished 1st at the Carl Broughton 8k

TCNJ ranked 22nd split their squad at Princeton between the 6k and 8k races, finishing 5th over the shorter distance and 10th over the longer. 

23rd ranked Claremont won the Redlands invite

24th ranked Washington University was 2nd at Grinnell to Iowa Central Community College, with 25th ranked St. Olaf and 35th ranked Bethel finishing in 6th and 7th respectively at the same meet.

28th ranked MIT was first at their home invite which took place at Boston's Franklin Park

31st ranked Mt. Union won the Penn State-Behrend invite

33rd ranked Whitworth University won their short course 3200 meter open invite, defeating their alumni

34th ranked Wisconsin Eau Claire was victorious at Whitewater

Thats it for this week, check back in next week for more results and our second interview of the season. And for those wondering how last weeks interviewee Steph Herrick did, she had a personal best for 6k - we can just call that the FloTrack Bump (I am trade marking that).