Husky squads move up in latest USTFCCCA coaches' poll, while Zags return to top 30...

UW's Isaac Green finished 11th at the Pac-12
cross country championships last week.
Paul Merca photo

NEW ORLEANS--With ten days to go before the nine NCAA regional championships around the country, including the West regionals at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, there was some movement in the latest USTFCCCA Division I national cross country coaches poll after the various conference championships were completed last week.

The Washington men's squad, which finished in third place at the Pac-12 championships in Riverside, California last Friday, moved up six spots to number 14 in the poll that was released Tuesday.

After a sub-par outing at the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational in mid-October, Pat Tyson's Gonzaga Bulldogs bounced back into the national top 30, coming in at number 26 in the national poll after finishing second at the West Coast Conference championships behind number 2 ranked BYU, and beating previous number 14 Portland in the process.

The men's national top five teams remain the same after conference championship weekend: Stanford, BYU, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State, and Air Force.

Other ranked teams from the Pac-12 and the WCC in the national top 30 include number 9 Colorado, number 18 Oregon, and number 24 Portland, which dropped ten spots after finishing third at the WCC championships.

Western Athletic Conference champion Cal Baptist, which is eligible to compete for the NCAA championships after moving up from Division II, is ranked number 25, and will be one of the teams to watch at the West Regionals in University Place next Friday.

The Washington women are ranked number 16 in the latest poll, up three from number 19 after finishing fifth in the tough Pac-12 championships.

The national top five women's teams are in order: North Carolina State, New Mexico, Oklahoma State, Northern Arizona, and Notre Dame, which bumped out previous number 5 BYU.

BYU is the only team from the West Coast Conference ranked in the national top 30.

Other teams from the Pac-12 in the top 30 include number 8 Colorado, number 9 Utah, number 10 Oregon, and number 11 Stanford.

WAC women's champion Cal Baptist is ranked number 14 in the latest poll.

The next poll will be released after the regional championships on November 14th.

The USTFCCCA release is available here.

NOTE: The USTFCCCA contributed to this report.

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