Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
USTFCCCA Week 7 National Rankings
USTFCCCA Week 7 Regional Rankings
Nov. 2, 2016 - In a season which has seen the No. 1 national ranking become a subject of some dispute, the North Central College men's cross country team has solidified its position as the country's top-ranked squad ahead of next week's regional championships. The most recent United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division III National Top 35 Poll, released Wednesday, has the Cardinals at the top with seven of the eight first-place votes.
The Cardinals are coming off a 43rd straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) team championship on Saturday, sweeping the top six individual places and recording a perfect score of 15 for the eighth time in their history.
Williams College (Massachusetts) remains in the No. 3 spot this week, followed by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The top 10 is rounded out by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Amherst College (Massachusetts), Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps College (California), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (New York) and Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (California).
North Central is one of two CCIW representatives in the top 35, joined by 25th-ranked Augustana College. The Cardinals have been ranked first or second in 69 of the last 75 national polls and has been ranked first in 60 of the 90 polls the USTFCCCA has released.
North Central also continues to sit atop the USTFCCCA's Midwest Region Rankings, released Tuesday. Wisconsin-Eau Claire is ranked second, followed by Wisconsin-La Crosse, Washington University in St. Louis, Augustana, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, the University of Chicago, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Aurora University.
The 2016 Midwest Region Championship will take place Saturday, Nov. 12 at Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winnecone, Wisconsin, followed by the Division III National Championships Nov. 19 at E.P. Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.
