Follow our 2017 FloXC Countdown, where FloTrack ranks the top ten cross country teams and individuals in the NCAA this season which will be LIVE on FloTrack. The No. 1 men's spot goes to North Central, and here's why:

Probable Top Eight:

JR Dhruvil Patel (14:15 5K; 18th at '16 NCAA XC; 77th at '15 NCAA XC)
JR Al Baldonado (15th at '16 NCAA XC; 65th at '15 NCAA XC)
JR Zach Hird (14:42 5K; 24th at '16 NCAA XC; 96th at '15 NCAA XC)
SR Dan O'Keefe (14:57 5K; 9:07 3K SC; 48th at '16 NCAA XC)
JR Matthew Norvell (14:50 5K; 30:13 10K)
SR Steve Sismelich (14:58 5K)
SR Argenie Bailon (15:09 5K)
JR Nolan McKenna (14:22 5K)

Impact Freshmen/Transfers:

Jared Borowsky via Colorado (9:07 3200)
Alex Makrounis via Hoffman Estates, IL (9:15 3200)
Gabe Pommier via Mahomet, IL (4:18 1600; 126th at '16 NXN)

Analysis:

North Central is going to win its 18th national title this year. They won last year by 144 points, the largest margin ever, and return four men from that team; three of those men are in the top eight returners and all four are in the top 25; in fact, three of them are juniors, meaning they'll probably win again next year too.

To that group they add Matthew Norvell, who ran 30:13 for 10K last spring and only missed nationals because he got hit by a car; Nolan McKenna, who ran 14:22 but couldn't crack NCC's top ten last year; Steve Sismelich, who won the outdoor 10K at their conference meet and was in the top ten last fall; and Colorado transfer Jared Borowsky, who ran 9:07 for 3200 meters in high school in 2015. They're winning.

That's all the analysis you really need. So instead, here's a good story from Al Carius, the pope of Division III athletics heading into his 52nd year as head coach:

"We won a national championship -- I won't tell you which year -- but it was a struggle because our culture and environment wasn't that good. It was a struggle for me all year long. I pulled the team into a room after we won -- to the outside world, this is a great team, but I told them, 'I want you to know that this is not a great team, because we did not have the things that make up a great team. We just happened to have more talent.'

"I'm not talking about anyone personally. It's my responsibility as a coach to point out if behavior has flaws in it that interfere with what a team wants to accomplish. They were a bit surprised. I hope they realized that there were a lot of things they could've done better. I don't want to shortchange them when they're not being at their best. Those are the values that are going to stick with them for the rest of their life."

It sounds cliched, but when the man has coached teams to 43 straight conference titles, 17 national titles, and 15 runner-up finishes in the 44-year history of DIII cross country, you have to acknowledge that he believes it, and that he's probably right.

FULL MEN'S RANKINGS HERE