Cowboy Jamboree results influence USTFCCCA D1 national rankings...

NEW ORLEANS--Last Saturday's Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Oklahoma on the course that will host the NCAA cross country championships in November had a profound influence on the USTFCCCA national top 30 rankings released Tuesday.

Gonzaga's tenth place finish in the men's race, led by Yacine Guemali's (photo courtesy Gonzaga Athletics) propelled the Bulldogs to the number 12 ranking in the national poll, which is the highest ranking achieved since the USTFCCCA started ranking teams in 1995. 

The previous high for Gonzaga was at number 13 last year following the West Coast Conference championship meet.

The voters of the national poll were not as kind to the University of Washington Husky men's squad, as they tumbled 15 spots from number 8 to number 23 after their 14th place finish.

For all intents and purposes this week's national top five men's teams followed the order of team finish at the Cowboy Jamboree, won by BYU.

Following the Cougars were in order: Stanford, defending national champion Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, and Tulsa.

Other men's teams from the Pac-12 and West Coast Conference ranked in the national top 30 include number 8 Colorado, number 26 Oregon, and number 28 Portland. Of the three schools, only Colorado competed at the Cowboy Jamboree, while Oregon and Portland stayed close to home at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Springfield.

On the women's side, Washington's eighth place finish at the Cowboy Invitational did not penalize the Dawgs that much, though they slid three spots to number 9 in the coaches' poll.

Gonzaga's fifth place finish at the Coast to Coast Battle in Beantown dropped the Zags nine spots to number 30.

Defending national champion North Carolina State remains in the number 1 spot, even though they were idle last week.

Following the Wolfpack are in order: Oklahoma State, who won their own Cowboy Jamboree, then New Mexico, Northern Arizona, and BYU.

Other women's teams from the Pac-12 ranked in this week's poll include number 6 Stanford, number 7 Colorado, number 11 Utah, number 22 Oregon, and number 27 Oregon State.

The USTFCCCA national rankings for this week are available here.

NOTE: The sports information office of Gonzaga University, and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.

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