First Regular DI Poll Places Wisconsin, Washington Up Top

September 11, 2012

 

NEW ORLEANS – In the first regular poll of the 2012 NCAA Division I Cross Country season, Wisconsin’s men and Washington’s women were selected as the top teams in the country by voters of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Wisconsin, the defending national men’s champion, keeps their preseason top perch, notching nine of 12 first-place votes. Washington overtook Oregon from the No. 1 spot, a place the Ducks held in the preseason poll two weeks ago. Washington’s women won the national title in 2008, finished as the nation’s runner up a year ago, and were last voted as the top team in the country on November 17, 2009.

 

The top six men’s teams remain unchanged from the preseason poll, including No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 BYU, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 5 Colorado, and No. 6 Texas. Moving up one spot to No. 14, Texas A&M improved their best-ever showing in the poll. The Pac-12 leads all conferences with five men’s teams – No. 5 Colorado, No. 9 Stanford, No. 22 Oregon, No. 26 Washington State, and No. 29 UCLA – ranked in the nation’s top 30.

 

Four women’s teams are receiving first-place votes. No. 2 Oregon actually received more first-place votes, five, than No. 1 Washington’s four. No. 3 Florida State notched two first-place votes while No. 4 Georgetown, the defending NCAA champions, gained one. Toledo jumped five spots to No. 18, their highest position in the history of the poll. The Dons of San Francisco gained a spot to No. 19 to improve their all-time best ranking. The Big East and Pac-12 both have five women’s teams in the top 30 to lead all leagues. The Big East sports No. 4 Georgetown, No. 7 Providence, No. 10 Villanova, No. 20 Syracuse, and No. 21 Notre Dame. Along with five in the top 30, the Pac-12 has three in the top ten with Washington, Oregon, and No. 8 Syracuse.

USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL 2012 Week #1 — September 11 next ranking: September 18   Rank Institution (FPV) Points Region Conference Cross Country Coach (Yr*) Last Week 1 Wisconsin (9) 355 Great Lakes Big Ten Mick Byrne (5th) 1 2 Oklahoma State (2) 347 Midwest Big 12 Dave Smith (7th) 2 3 BYU (1) 341 Mountain West Coast Ed Eyestone (13th) 3 4 Oklahoma 303 Midwest Big 12 Martin Smith (8th) 4 5 Colorado 294 Mountain Pac-12 Mark Wetmore (18th) 5 6 Portland 292 West West Coast Rob Conner (23rd) 7 6 Texas 292 South Central Big 12 John Hayes (6th) 6 8 Iona 276 Northeast Metro Atlantic Ricardo Santos (5th) 8 9 Stanford 263 West Pac-12 Chris Miltenberg (1st) 9 10 Florida State 234 South ACC Bob Braman (13th) 10 11 NC State 229 Southeast ACC Rollie Geiger (35th) 11 12 Syracuse 221 Northeast Big East Chris Fox (8th) 12 13 Indiana 216 Great Lakes Big Ten Ron Helmer (6th) 13 14 Texas A&M 189 South Central SEC Pat Henry (9th) 15 15 Princeton 169 Mid-Atlantic Ivy Jason Vigilante (1st) 21 16 Georgetown 168 Mid-Atlantic Big East Patrick Henner (14th) 14 17 Minnesota 149 Midwest Big Ten Steve Plasencia (17th) 18 18 Northern Arizona 139 Mountain Big Sky Eric Heins (6th) 17 19 Villanova 132 Mid-Atlantic Big East Marcus O’Sullivan (13th) 16 20 Tulsa 125 Midwest Conference USA Steve Gulley (11th) 20 20 Michigan 125 Great Lakes Big Ten Alex Gibby (3rd) 19 22 Oregon 113 West Pac-12 Vin Lananna (8th) 22 23 Arkansas 110 South Central SEC Chris Bucknam (5th) 23 24 New Mexico 87 Mountain Mountain West Joe Franklin (6th) 24 25 Notre Dame 76 Great Lakes Big East Joe Piane (38th) 25 26 Washington State 64 West Pac-12 Tim Riley (1st) 26 27 Eastern Kentucky 57 Southeast Ohio Valley Rick Erdmann (34th) 29 28 Columbia 48 Northeast Ivy Willy Wood (19th) 27 29 UCLA 45 West Pac-12 Mike Maynard (4th) 30 30 Georgia 42 South SEC Patrick Cunniff (1st) 28 Others Receiving Votes: Ohio State 21, Providence 12, Virginia 11, North Carolina 9, Florida 5, William & Mary 5, Cal Poly 4, California 3, Iowa State 3, Weber State 3, Virginia Tech 2, Michigan State 1. Dropped Out: none compiled by Don Kopriva (* year as effective coach of that team in men’s cross country)   USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL 2012 Week #1 — September 11 next ranking: September 18   Rank Institution (FPV) Points Region Conference Cross Country Coach (Yr*) Last Week 1 Washington (4) 347 West Pac-12 Greg Metcalf (11th) 2 2 Oregon (5) 345 West Pac-12 Vin Lananna (8th) 1 3 Florida State (2) 338 South ACC Karen Harvey (6th) 4 4 Georgetown (1) 334 Mid-Atlantic Big East Michael Smith (1st) 3 5 Iowa State 303 Midwest Big 12 Corey Ihmels (6th) 5 6 Vanderbilt 292 South SEC Steve Keith (7th) 6 7 Providence 289 Northeast Big East Ray Treacy (29th) 7 8 Stanford 272 West Pac-12 Chris Miltenberg (1st) 8 9 Arkansas 251 South Central SEC Lance Harter (23rd) 11 10 Villanova 243 Mid-Atlantic Big East Gina Procaccio (13th) 10 11 Michigan 232 Great Lakes Big Ten Mike McGuire (23rd) 12 12 Arizona 216 West Pac-12 Fred Harvey (11th) 14 13 Michigan State 186 Great Lakes Big Ten Walt Drenth (9th) 17 14 Boston College 182 Northeast ACC Randy Thomas (21st) 16 15 Virginia 178 Southeast ACC Todd Morgan (1st) 18 16 Colorado 170 Mountain Pac-12 Mark Wetmore (18th) 13 17 Weber State 149 Mountain Big Sky Paul Pilkington (6th) 19 18 Toledo 129 Great Lakes Mid-American Kevin Hadsell (15th) 23 19 San Francisco 127 West West Coast Helen Lehman-Winters (10th) 20 20 Syracuse 125 Northeast Big East Chris Fox (8th) 9 21 Notre Dame 111 Great Lakes Big East Tim Connelly (25th) 22 22 Oklahoma State 109 Midwest Big 12 Dave Smith (4th) 24 23 Penn State 107 Mid-Atlantic Big Ten Beth Alford-Sullivan (14th) RV 24 New Mexico 105 Mountain Mountain West Joe Franklin (6th) RV 25 West Virginia 95 Mid-Atlantic Big 12 Sean Cleary (6th) 21 26 NC State 63 Southeast ACC Laurie Henes (7th) 25 27 Texas 60 South Central Big 12 Bev Kearney (21st) 26 28 Princeton 58 Mid-Atlantic Ivy Peter Farrell (35th) 15 29 Florida 56 South SEC Mike Holloway (6th) RV 30 Minnesota 32 Midwest Big Ten Gary Wilson (28th) 27 Others Receiving Votes: Wisconsin 26, Brigham Young 20, Dartmouth 16, Cornell 9, Iowa 2, Portland 2, Duke 1. Dropped Out: No. 28 BYU, No. 29 Wisconsin, No. 30 Cornell compiled by Jesse Rosen (* year as effective coach of that team in women’s cross country)