By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director
SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University cross country teams are both ranked #35 this week in NCAA Division III National Polls released by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). In addition, the Bearcat men's team is ranked #3 in the West Region and the Bearcat women's team ranked #4 in the West Region.
SUNY Geneseo (N.Y.) is ranked #1 in both the men's National Poll and the women's National Poll. The women's team retained the top ranking from a week ago, and received all eight first place votes and 280 points. The men's team moved up from the #2 position, and now has five first place votes and 277 points.
In the women's poll, SUNY Geneseo was followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology at #2 with 272 points. Williams College (Mass.) was #3 at 261 and Johns Hopkins University (Md.) was #4 at 254. Washington University (Mo.) was ranked #5 with 253 points.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) remained at #6 with 239 points, and University of Wisconsin-La Crosse stayed at #7 with 227 points. Calvin College (Mich.), which was tied with Middlebury College (Vt.) for #8 a week ago, moved one point above Middlebury to take over sole possession of the #8 spot with 221 points. Middlebury, with 220 points, moved to #9. Dickinson College (Pa.) held at #10 with 211 points.
West Region teams in the women's poll included Willamette, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Whitworth University (#27) and Colorado College (#32).
A week ago, the #1 spot in the men's poll was shared by SUNY Geneseo and North Central College (Ill.), but North Central slipped to #2 this week with 275 points. Williams remained #3 at 264, while University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire continued at #4 with 256 points.
MIT was #5 with 248 points, UW-La Crosse followed at #6 with 233 points, and Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) was listed at #7 with 226 points. Amherst College (Mass.) was #8 at 222 and Loras College (Iowa) was #9 at 215. The #5 through #9 rankings did not change from a week ago.
Moving up two spots into the top 10 was Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) with 209 points. CMU jumped 18 points from last week's poll.
Willamette, Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (#14) represented the West Region in this men's poll.
The 10 teams in the West Region men's rankings and the 10 teams in the West Region women's rankings all remained in the same positions as a week ago.
Men's cross country teams ranked in the West Region were Pomona-Pitzer at #1, CMS at #2, Willamette at #3, Whittier College (Calif.) at #4, Lewis & Clark College at #5, George Fox University at #6, Occidental College (Calif.) at #7, University of California, Santa Cruz at #8, Whitworth at #9, and Pacific Lutheran University at #10.
The women's West Region rankings included CMS at #1, with Whitworth at #2, Colorado College at #3, Willamette at #4, Pomona-Pitzer at #5, UC Santa Cruz at #6, Occidental at #7, University of Redlands (Calif.) at #8, Lewis & Clark at #9 and George Fox at #10.
Willamette will compete at two cross country meets on Saturday, Oct. 15. One group of WU athletes will run in the UW-Oshkosh Invitational at the Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wisconsin. The second group will compete at the Lewis & Clark Invitational at McIver Park in Estacada, Oregon.
