Women's Cross Country Team Holds at #9 in NCAA Division III Poll

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University women's cross country team maintained its hold on the #9 ranking in the NCAA Division III Poll released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Wednesday, Oct. 22. Willamette moved up to the #9 ranking last week following one week at #10.

In addition to its national ranking, the Bearcat women's team is ranked #1 in the West Region. The Willamette men's cross country team advanced one spot to #3 in the West Region.

Johns Hopkins University (Md.) continued to own the #1 ranking in the women's National Poll with all eight first place votes and 280 points. St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) stayed at #2 with 270 points. Middlebury College (Vt.) also kept its position and remained at #3 with 265 points.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology at #4 and SUNY Geneseo (N.Y.) at #5 also retained their previous ranking. MIT received 255 points and SUNY Geneseo garnered 250 points.

Calvin College (Mich.) took an eight-position leap from #14 a week ago to #6 this week with 231 points. Williams College (Mass.) advanced one position to claim the #7 ranking, just one point behind Calvin with a total of 230 points.

Washington University (Mo.) slipped two spots to #8 and received 228 points. Willamette stayed at #9 with 220 points. SUNY Oneonta (N.Y.) jumped to places in the #10 ranking with 206 points.

West Region teams joining Willamette in the women's National Poll were Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) tied for #14 and Whitworth University at #31.

The men's National Poll was topped by North Central College (Ill.) for the fifth consecutive week. North Central received all eight first place votes and 280 points. University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire stepped up one spot into the #2 ranking with 272 points, while Williams also advanced one spot to take over the #3 ranking with 260 points.

St. Olaf College (Minn.) fell two positions to #4 with 259 points and trailed Williams by just a single point. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse moved up five positions and claimed the #5 ranking with 248 points.

Central College (Iowa) was #6 at 232 points, with Colby College (Maine) close behind at #7 with 231 points. SUNY Geneseo was listed at #8 with 227 points after falling seven spots in the poll. Middlebury jumped three positions and was #9 with 212 points. St. Lawrence held the #10 ranking with 209 points.

Willamette retained the #1 women's ranking in the West Region. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps continued at #2 and Whitworth stayed at #3. Whitman College moved from #5 up to #4, switching places with University of Puget Sound, which fell one spot to #5.

Pomona-Pitzer advanced into the #1 position in the men's West Region Rankings, up one spot from last week. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps slipped one spot into the #2 ranking. Willamette jumped one spot to #3 and Puget Sound move up one spot to #4.

Whitman also gained one place in the men's ranking up to #5, while Occidental College (Calif.) dropped three spots to #6. In addition to Wilalmette, Puget Sound and Whitman, other NWC teams in the Top 10 were Whitworth at #9 and Lewis & Clark College at #10.