Both UW cross country teams still ranked in latest USTFCCCA poll...

NEW ORLEANS--There was some minor shuffling in the USTFCCCA Division I national cross country poll after last weekend's conference championship meets in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeast Conference, and the Big XII.

The University of Washington women's team (above/photo by Paul Merca) stayed at the number 8 position in the eyes of the national coaches voting on the poll.

SEC and defending national champion Arkansas remains the nation's number one team, followed by New Mexico, ACC champ North Carolina State, BYU, and Stanford.

Other Pac-12 women's teams in the national top 30 include number 7 Colorado, number 18 Utah, number 20 Oregon State, and number 26 Oregon.

Boise State at number 14 is the only other team from the West Region ranked in the national top 30.

In the men's national poll, there were changes in positions 4 and 5. as both Notre Dame and Tulsa moved up two spots to 4th and 5th, respectively.

Stanford is tied with Tulsa as the nation's number 5 team, despite sliding down one spot.

There was no change in the national top 3, as Northern Arizona, defending national champ BYU, and SEC champ Arkansas claim the top three positions.

The Washington Huskies moved up two spots to number 18 in the men's national poll.

Other Pac-12 men's teams ranked in the national top 30 include number 9 Colorado, and number 13 Oregon.

The University of Portland is the only other team from the West Region represented in the national top 30, as the Pilots check in at number 10.

Gonzaga, which was ranked number 30 in the first national poll, dropped out, but received votes.

The USTFCCCA release is available here.

NCAA ANNOUNCES SELECTION CRITERIA FOR XC CHAMPS...

Meanwhile, the NCAA on Wednesday announced the selection criteria for the NCAA D1 cross country championships on March 15th in Stillwater, Oklahoma, hosted by Oklahoma State University.

All schools will have a declaration window from March 3rd at midnight Eastern time to March 5th at 7:59pm Eastern time to be considered for team selections.

Selection to the nationals will be weighed heavily on conference championship performance. After the conference championship, a team will be evaluated on its body of work for all competitions, regardless of the time of year they occurred. (This includes teams that do not have a conference championship.) 

Common opponents and head-to-head competition against Division I opponents only will be used when comparing teams.

The same declaration window will be used for schools to declare individuals for selection to the national championships.

The top individual finisher at each conference championship who is not part of a qualifying team will advance to the NCAA championships (maximum of 32 individuals depending on how many conferences host a conference championship). 

The remaining individual spots will be selected at large by the committee to fill the field to 38. This includes individuals that did not have the opportunity to compete in a conference championship. 

The NCAA release is available here.

NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the NCAA contributed to this report.

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