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

SALEM, ORE. -- For the second week in a row, the Willamette University women's cross country team is ranked #12 in the NCAA Division III Poll released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The women's team also retained the #1 ranking in the West Region, while the Bearcat men's team stayed #5 in the West Region.

Johns Hopkins University (Md.) was still the #1 team in the women's National Poll with all eight first place votes and 280 points. Massachusetts Institute of Technology moved up two spots to claim the #2 ranking with 269 points. St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) held at #3 in the poll with 264 points.

Middlebury College (Vt.) earned a four-position improvement in the poll, moving up from #8 into the #4 spot. Oberlin College (Ohio), which was tied with Washington University (Mo.) for the #5 ranking a week ago, took sole possession of #5 in the new poll with 244 points. Washington slipped to #6 with 243 points.

SUNY Geneseo (N.Y.) maintained the #7 position with 241 points, while Tufts University (Mass.) advanced six spots into the #8 ranking with 215 ponts.

Dickinson College (Pa.) stayed at #9 in the poll with 214 points. Williams College (Mass.), which was ranked #2 a week ago, fell eight spots to take the #10 ranking this week.

Calvin College (Mich.) dropped one spot in to the #10 position with 206 points. Willamette remained at #12 with 185 points, edging out Haverford College (Pa.), which was #13 with 184 points. Rounding out the top 15 were the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at #14 with 177 points and SUNY Oneonota (N.Y.) at #15 with 166 points.

North Central College (Ill.) kept the #1 ranking in the men's National Poll for the second consecutive week with all eight first place votes and 280 points. NCC led a group of five teams that retained their rankings from a week ago at the top of the poll.

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire remained #2 an received 272 points. St. Olaf College (Minn.) stayed at #3 with 263 points, while St. Lawrence held the #4 ranking with 256 points and Central College (Iowa) was #5 with 246 points.

Colby College (Maine) advanced 11 spots to take the #6 ranking with 238 points. University of Wisconson-Platteville continued to be #7 with 230 ponts. Johns Hopkins was #8 with 220 points. SUNY Geneseo owned the #9 ranking with 214 points, while Williams followed at #10 with 212 points.

Willamette maintained its hold on the #1 spot in the women's West Region Rankings. In fact, the top six teams remained the same, with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) at #2 and Whitman College at #3. University of Puget Sound was #4, with Whitworth University at #5 and Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) at #6.

The top six teams in the men's West Region Rankings also stayed the same. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was #1, followed by Pomona-Pitzer at #2 and Occidental College (Calif.) at #3. Whitman remained at #4, while Willamette was #5 and Puget Sound was #6.

In addition to Whitman, Willamette and UPS, other NWC teams ranked in the West Region were Lewis & Clark College at #8 and Whitworth at #10.

The Bearcats will host the 40th Annual Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 4. Action will get underway with the Men's Cardinal 8-kilometer race at 9:30 a.m. (PDT), featuring teams from NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III. The Women's Cardinal 5-kilometer race will start at 10:20 a.m.

Following the Cardinal races will be the Gold races, which will include NAIA, NJCAA, and club teams, as well as unattached runners. The Men's Gold 8-kilometer race is set for 11:00 a.m., with the Women's Gold 5-kilometer race scheduled for 11:50 a.m.