Willamette Women's Cross Country Ranked #17 in NCAA Division III
By Eric Spresser, Student Assistant Athletics Communications Director
SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University women's cross country team is ranked #17 in the latest NCAA Division III National Coaches' Poll. The Bearcats will look to improve upon that ranking this weekend by competing in the 41st Annual Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational hosted by the Bearcats in Salem's Bush's Pasture Park on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 9:30 a.m. (PDT).
The women started off the year with a solid second place finish in the Ash Creek Invitational held at Western Oregon University on Sept 11. Following that race, the women advanced to #15 in the nation after beating NCAA Division I opponent University of Portland along with six NCAA Division II teams. With the past two weeks spent off from competing, the Bearcats slipped down two spots to #17.
Willamette is one of two Northwest Conference representatives rated in the women's top 35. Whitworth University also slipped one spot in the latest rankings down to #33.
Johns Hopkins University (Md.), the defending national champion in women's cross country, continues to sit at #1 in the latest poll released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Johns Hopkins received 280 points and all eight first place votes. Williams College (Mass.) vaulted up four spots this week to #2 with 272 points.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology slipped down one spot to third place in the poll with 263 points. Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) sits at #4 with 252 points while Middlebury College (Vt.) advanced two positions to #5 with 251 points.
Also ranked in the top 10 of the women's national poll are SUNY Geneseo (N.Y.) at #6 with 242 points, St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) at #7 with 231 points, Hope College (Mich.) at #8 with 224 points, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) at #9 with 209 points, and Calvin College (Mich.) at #10 with 203 points.
In the NCAA Division III Men's Poll, North Central College (Ill.), the defending men's champion, continues to be ranked #1 with all eight first place votes and 280 points. St. Olaf College (Minn.) comes in at #2 with 271 points, while Amherst College (Mass.) is #3 with 265 points.
Washington University (Mo.) is at the #4 position with 254 points while Williams College (Mass.) jumped into the top 5 by advancing three spots from last week's rankings to the #5 spot with 246 points.
The West Region rankings held steady with the Willamette women's team still ranked at #2. Willamette's men also held their position in the West Region rankings at #3.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) heads up the West Region women's rankings. After Willamette at #2, the rankings include Whitworth at #3, Colorado College at #4 and University of California, Santa Cruz at #5. Joining the Bearcats and Pirates from the NWC are the University of Puget Sound at #9 and Whitman College at #10.
In the West Region men's rankings, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps is #1, with Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) at #2 and Willamette at #3. Puget Sound continues to be ranked #4 and Occidental College (Calif.) is listed at #5. Other NWC teams ranked in the West Region are Whitworth at #6 and Whitman at #7.