Grizzly men retain regional, national #1 ranking
Adams State has been ranked No. 1 in the national and regional rankings for 19 straight polls.
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association (USTFCCCA) released its first Division II regular-season cross country this week, and the Grizzly men have maintained their No. 1 ranking from the preseason in both the national and regional polls after posting a perfect team score at the season-opening Joe I. Vigil Open on Sept. 11.
The Grizzly women maintained their top spots in both sets of rankings as well.
Adams State has now been ranked atop the USTFCCCA men’s national and regional polls for the last 19 sets of rankings, and has been in the top two nationally for 53 consecutive polls, dating back to Nov. 8, 2004. The Grizzlies have held the top position in the Central Region for the past 22 polls.
The top six teams in the national rankings were unchanged from the preseason poll. Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rivals Western State and Colorado Mines remained second and third, followed by Grand Valley State (Mich.), Chico State (Calif.) and Western Washington.
Queens (N.C.) and Southern Indiana, ranked seventh and eighth in the preseason poll, respectively, switched spots in the first regular-season rankings.
Rounding out the top 10 were Augustana (S.D.), the highest non-RMAC Central Region team in the rankings, moving up one spot from its preseason ranking to ninth, and Shippensburg (Pa.) who was 11th in the preseason.
In the Central Regional rankings, spots five thru 10 were shaken up a bit, but the ASC, Western State, Colorado Mines and Augustan (S.D.) continued to hold Nos. 1 -4. RMAC squads Nebraska-Kearney and New Mexico Highlands each moved up a spot from the preseason poll to fifth and seventh, respectively, while Metro State dropped one spot to sixth.
Minnesota Duluth, previously unranked in the Central Regional poll, took over the eighth spot. Minnesota State dropped two spots to ninth in the region, and Fort Lewis made its season debut in the regional top-10 as the seventh RMAC representative.
The Grizzlies used last week as a rest week, and will take another weekend off from competition before competing in the Rocky Mountain Shootout on Oct. 2, hosted by the University of Colorado, currently ranked sixth in the USTFCCCA Division I National Rankings.
Related Item: Complete National Rankings
Related Item: Complete Central Regional Rankings
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