USTFCCCA: New Poll Shifts Squads in DI, Florida State Top Women's Team

Oct 2, 2012 by FloTrack Staff

New Poll Shifts Squads in DI, Florida State Top Women’s Team

October 2, 2012

NEW ORLEANS – As a result of a hefty weekend of competition, there were many changes made to the latest national coaches’ poll for NCAA Division I cross country. While Wisconsin’s squad is still the top men’s team in the poll, Florida State now has the nation’s No. 1 women’s team according to a members’ panel of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

The top four men’s teams remained unchanged from the previous week, headed by Wisconsin, with eight first-place votes, and flanked by No. 2 Oklahoma State, with two FPVs, No. 3 BYU, who has two FPVs, and No. 4 Oklahoma. No. 5 Iona, who claimed victory at the Greater Louisville Classic last weekend, joins the national top five for the first time since last October.

Also in the men’s poll, Tulsa moved up 11 spots to No. 9, making their first-ever appearance in the national top ten, after besting the field at the Notre Dame Invitational that featured eight nationally-ranked teams. Columbia’s men at No. 17 reached their all-time best ranking after taking second at the Greater Louisville Classic last weekend. William and Mary at No. 23 is making their first appearance in the national poll since last season while Missouri at No. 30 is ranked for the first time since September 1, 2000. The Tribe of W&M was second only to now-No. 12 Villanova last weekend at Lehigh’s Paul Short Invite while the Tigers of Mizzou finished fourth at Louisville, ahead of then-No. 6 Texas.

It is now a three-way tie among conferences for most spots in the men’s top 30 as the Big East, Big Ten, and Pac-12 each have four in the poll. The SEC and Big 12 follow with three apiece.

In the women’s poll, Florida State took over the top spot with 11 FPVs while No. 4 Oregon, who fell a spot to No. 3, notched a lone FPV. Florida State was last in the top spot in the final regular-season poll of 2011. Arizona vaulted ten spots over the field to land at an all-time best No. 2 on the poll. The Wildcats defeatedthen-No. 1 Washington (now No. 3) for the top spot at the Greater Louisville Classic.

Rewarded for a big victory at the Paul Short Invitational over top ten teams then-No. 4 Georgetown and then-No. 9 Villanova, Cornell returns to the poll and lands at all-time best spot at No. 9. Toledo rocketed to No. 15, up seven spots, for their first-ever trip to the top 15 after finishing a close second to then-No. 11 Michigan at Kansas’ Rim Rock Farm Classic last weekend. William and Mary’s women, at No. 17, are also ranked for the first time this season with this latest poll. W&M’s women are in the top 30 for the first time since 2006 after an “eye-opening” runner-up showing at the Paul Short Invite. Yale’s women, at No. 30, are ranked for the first time since September 27, 2005, after they finished fourth at the Paul Short.

The shifting around the poll puts five teams from the Big Ten and five from the Pac-12 in the poll. The Pac-12 now has three squads ranked in the nation’s top five. The Big East has four ranked women’s squads while the Ivy League and ACC claims three.

As a result of a light weekend of competition in DI this upcoming weekend, there will not be a national poll released next Tuesday. The next poll will be released on Tuesday, October 16.

USTFCCCA
NCAA Division I
Men's Cross Country National Coaches' Poll
2012 Week #4 -- October 2
next poll: October 16 (next week off)

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	*Cross Country Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Wisconsin (8)	352	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Mick Byrne (5th)	1
2	Oklahoma State (2)	347	Midwest	Big 12	Dave Smith (7th)	2
3	BYU (2)	343	Mountain	West Coast	Ed Eyestone (13th)	3
4	Oklahoma	315	Midwest	Big 12	Martin Smith (8th)	4
5	Iona	301	Northeast	Metro Atlantic	Ricardo Santos (5th)	8
5	Portland	301	West	West Coast	Rob Conner (23rd)	5
7	Colorado	286	Mountain	Pac-12	Mark Wetmore (18th)	7
8	Stanford	263	West	Pac-12	Chris Miltenberg (1st)	9
9	Tulsa	258	Midwest	Conference USA	Steve Gulley (11th)	20
10	Syracuse	242	Northeast	Big East	Chris Fox (8th)	11
11	Princeton	235	Mid-Atlantic	Ivy	Jason Vigilante (1st)	17
12	Villanova	212	Mid-Atlantic	Big East	Marcus O'Sullivan (13th)	22
13	Notre Dame	196	Great Lakes	Big East	Joe Piane (38th)	24
14	Florida State	193	South	ACC	Bob Braman (13th)	10
15	Oregon	184	West	Pac-12	Robert Johnson (1st)	23
16	Minnesota	156	Midwest	Big Ten	Steve Plasencia (17th)	16
17	Columbia	148	Northeast	Ivy	Willy Wood (19th)	28
18	Northern Arizona	147	Mountain	Big Sky	Eric Heins (6th)	19
19	Arkansas	136	South Central	SEC	Chris Bucknam (5th)	17
20	Georgetown	125	Mid-Atlantic	Big East	Patrick Henner (14th)	15
20	Eastern Kentucky	125	Southeast	Ohio Valley	Rick Erdmann (34th)	25
22	Texas	124	South Central	Big 12	John Hayes (6th)	6
23	William and Mary	121	Southeast	Colonial	Stephen Walsh (3rd)	NR
24	Michigan	68	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Alex Gibby (3rd)	26
24	Georgia	68	South	SEC	Patrick Cunniff (1st)	RV
26	Indiana	57	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Ron Helmer (6th)	11
27	UCLA	54	West	Pac-12	Mike Maynard (4th)	30
28	New Mexico	52	Mountain	Mountain West	Joe Franklin (6th)	21
29	Virginia	45	Southeast	ACC	Peter Watson (1st)	27
30	Missouri	35	Midwest	SEC	Joe Lynn (2nd)	NR
Others Receiving Votes: Kansas 28, Texas A&M 27, NC State 13, Iowa State 7, Arizona 6, Dartmouth 3, Florida 3, Virginia Tech 2, Washington State 2.

Dropped Out: No. 11 NC State, No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 29 Washington State
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 #4 -- October 2
next poll: October 16 (next week off)

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	*Cross Country Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Florida State (11)	359	South	ACC	Karen Harvey (6th)	2
2	Arizona	336	West	Pac-12	James Li (11th)	12
3	Washington	332	West	Pac-12	Greg Metcalf (11th)	1
4	Oregon (1)	327	West	Pac-12	Robert Johnson (1st)	3
5	Iowa State	308	Midwest	Big 12	Corey Ihmels (6th)	5
6	Georgetown	294	Mid-Atlantic	Big East	Michael Smith (1st)	4
7	Stanford	275	West	Pac-12	Chris Miltenberg (1st)	6
8	Michigan	267	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Mike McGuire (21st)	11
9	Cornell	246	Northeast	Ivy	Artie Smith (14th)	RV
10	Michigan State	237	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Walt Drenth (9th)	14
11	Arkansas	229	South Central	SEC	Lance Harter (23rd)	10
12	Vanderbilt	202	South	SEC	Steve Keith (7th)	8
13	Weber State	188	Mountain	Big Sky	Paul Pilkington (6th)	16
14	Penn State	177	Mid-Atlantic	Big Ten	Beth Alford-Sullivan (14th)	17
15	Toledo	168	Great Lakes	Mid-American	Kevin Hadsell (15th)	22
16	Notre Dame	163	Great Lakes	Big East	Tim Connelly (25th)	20
17	William and Mary	157	Southeast	Colonial	Stephen Walsh (3rd)	NR
18	Colorado	153	Mountain	Pac-12	Mark Wetmore (18th)	15
19	New Mexico	152	Mountain	Mountain West	Joe Franklin (6th)	19
20	San Francisco	142	West	West Coast	Helen Lehman-Winters (10th)	18
21	Boston College	137	Northeast	ACC	Randy Thomas (21st)	13
22	Oklahoma State	120	Midwest	Big 12	Dave Smith (4th)	23
23	Columbia	105	Northeast	Ivy	Willy Wood (19th)	24
24	Villanova	98	Mid-Atlantic	Big East	Gina Procaccio (13th)	9
25	Butler	83	Great Lakes	Atlantic 10	Matt Roe (6th)	21
26	NC State	74	Southeast	ACC	Laurie Henes (7th)	25
27	Minnesota	59	Midwest	Big Ten	Gary Wilson (28th)	RV
28	Providence	58	Northeast	Big East	Ray Treacy (29th)	7
29	Wisconsin	29	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Jim Stintzi (9th)	29
30	Yale	23	Northeast	Ivy	Amy Gosztyla (2nd)	NR
Others Receiving Votes: Syracuse 21, Virginia 19, Texas 18, Florida 9, Dartmouth 6, Princeton 4, Kentucky 3, North Carolina 2.

Dropped Out: No. 26 Virginia, No. 27 Syracuse, No. 28 Florida, No. 30 Texas
compiled by Jesse Rosen
( year as effective coach of that team in women's cross country)*