By: Garrett Zatlin
PAST RANKINGS THIS SEASON
PAST RANKINGS THIS SEASON
Week 2 (10/7)
Week 3 (10/14)--no change
Week 4 (10/21)
Week 5 (10/28)--no change
Week 6 (11/4)
Week 7 (11/11)--no change
Week 3 (10/14)--no change
Week 4 (10/21)
Week 5 (10/28)--no change
Week 6 (11/4)
Week 7 (11/11)--no change
KEY
· Bold: Had performances that influenced a strong change in the rankings
· (#/#): First number indicates how much the team has moved in the rankings. A plus means they have improved in the rankings. A minus means they have regressed in the rankings. The second number indicates where they were ranked the week before
· (Wasn’t Ranked): Was not ranked the week before.
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#25 Colorado State Rams (-5/20)
#24 UCLA Bruins (Wasn't Ranked)
-As I'm writing this, the Bruins just upset No.1 Kentucky in basketball so everything is going right for UCLA right now. The Bruins were pretty inconsistent throughout the season. One day, they're 9th at Wisconsin and the other day
#23 Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (-6/17)
-Tulsa didn't have a big regular season with their most notable race coming at Wisconsin where their top three carried them to an 8th place finish. It was an impressive performance that was eventually put into perspective at regionals where they finished 4th overall and lost to teams like Minnesota and Oklahoma, teams that were not supposed to beat them. The Hurricanes finished 20th overall at nationals to end what had been a very average season. They're top three was great, but they were not able to take that next step with their weakness at the last two scorers.
#22 Minnesota Golden Gophers (Wasn't Ranked)
-I have no idea how they did it, but the Minnesota Gophers had one of the biggest season turn arounds I have ever seen from any team. The Gophers started their season pretty poorly. They were 5th place at their own Roy Griak meet and then dropped to an awful 24th place at Pre-Nats. At that point, the Gophers were out of the conversation. Then BIG 10's happened at the Gophers took advantage of a weak field to get third overall. Nice improvement, but there was no way they were going to make nationals...right? Wrong. The Gophers shocked the nation by taking the second auto-bid out of the Midwest region and defeating teams like Tulsa and Oklahoma. They were on a roll and they took their momentum into nationals where they finished 19th overall. Their overall season wasn't perfect, but when you race like during the postseason then you have to get some credit.
#21 Air Force Falcons (+3/21)
-Air Force was an underrated team this season that had the unfortunate fate of being in a tough region that kicked them out of national qualifying. Corona and Eller stepped up to become huge leaders and gave the team a spark at Pre-Nats where the Falcons finished 8th overall. After pulling out a conference title over CSU, the Falcons ended up 5th in the Mountain region and ended their season early. It had to be a disappointing finish for them, but they are a top-25 team and they ran like it the entire season. They weren't perfect but they had talent and show it throughout the season.
#20 Penn Quakers (+5/25)
-Remember when I ranked the Penn Quakers 16th in the preseason rankings? At the time, the thought of them being ranked that well was absurd. Now? Not so absurd huh? Penn ran well the entire season and stayed consistent. When they beat Villanova, I knew they were for real. Their 2nd place at regionals (behind Gtown but ahead of Nova) solidified their success this season and got them to NCAA's for them time in 40 years (where they finished 24th). The only issues I have with Penn is that their schedule wasn't very strong. They consistently ran well against Villanova and had a great Heps performance, but besides that they weren't often challenged.
-EKU was by far the toughest team for me to rank this season. They had very little impact during the regular season and we were never totally sure if they had shown all their cards. However, once regionals rolled around they stepped up and shook up the Kolas calculations. They grabbed a third place overall and used that confidence to finish 17th overall. The potential this team was held was excellent, but they only showed it during the postseason. For that reason, they'll take the 19th spot.
#24 UCLA Bruins (Wasn't Ranked)
-As I'm writing this, the Bruins just upset No.1 Kentucky in basketball so everything is going right for UCLA right now. The Bruins were pretty inconsistent throughout the season. One day, they're 9th at Wisconsin and the other day
#23 Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (-6/17)
-Tulsa didn't have a big regular season with their most notable race coming at Wisconsin where their top three carried them to an 8th place finish. It was an impressive performance that was eventually put into perspective at regionals where they finished 4th overall and lost to teams like Minnesota and Oklahoma, teams that were not supposed to beat them. The Hurricanes finished 20th overall at nationals to end what had been a very average season. They're top three was great, but they were not able to take that next step with their weakness at the last two scorers.
#22 Minnesota Golden Gophers (Wasn't Ranked)
-I have no idea how they did it, but the Minnesota Gophers had one of the biggest season turn arounds I have ever seen from any team. The Gophers started their season pretty poorly. They were 5th place at their own Roy Griak meet and then dropped to an awful 24th place at Pre-Nats. At that point, the Gophers were out of the conversation. Then BIG 10's happened at the Gophers took advantage of a weak field to get third overall. Nice improvement, but there was no way they were going to make nationals...right? Wrong. The Gophers shocked the nation by taking the second auto-bid out of the Midwest region and defeating teams like Tulsa and Oklahoma. They were on a roll and they took their momentum into nationals where they finished 19th overall. Their overall season wasn't perfect, but when you race like during the postseason then you have to get some credit.
#21 Air Force Falcons (+3/21)
-Air Force was an underrated team this season that had the unfortunate fate of being in a tough region that kicked them out of national qualifying. Corona and Eller stepped up to become huge leaders and gave the team a spark at Pre-Nats where the Falcons finished 8th overall. After pulling out a conference title over CSU, the Falcons ended up 5th in the Mountain region and ended their season early. It had to be a disappointing finish for them, but they are a top-25 team and they ran like it the entire season. They weren't perfect but they had talent and show it throughout the season.
#20 Penn Quakers (+5/25)
-Remember when I ranked the Penn Quakers 16th in the preseason rankings? At the time, the thought of them being ranked that well was absurd. Now? Not so absurd huh? Penn ran well the entire season and stayed consistent. When they beat Villanova, I knew they were for real. Their 2nd place at regionals (behind Gtown but ahead of Nova) solidified their success this season and got them to NCAA's for them time in 40 years (where they finished 24th). The only issues I have with Penn is that their schedule wasn't very strong. They consistently ran well against Villanova and had a great Heps performance, but besides that they weren't often challenged.
#19 Eastern Kentucky Colonels (Wasn't Ranked)
-EKU was by far the toughest team for me to rank this season. They had very little impact during the regular season and we were never totally sure if they had shown all their cards. However, once regionals rolled around they stepped up and shook up the Kolas calculations. They grabbed a third place overall and used that confidence to finish 17th overall. The potential this team was held was excellent, but they only showed it during the postseason. For that reason, they'll take the 19th spot.
#18 Southern Utah Thunderbirds (+4/22)
#17 Michigan State (Wasn't Ranked)
-I struggled to properly place these two teams. I feel like I'm over ranking them right now, but I'm not sure anyone else is ready to be ahead of them. For a majority of the season, Michigan State was running better than SUU and even defeat them at Roy Griak (comfortably). At regionals, the Spartans grabbed second overall and got themselves an auto-bid to nationals while the Thunderbirds barely snuck out of the Mountain region by 10 points (4th overall). However, neither team really thrived at nationals with MSU finishing 25th and SUU finish 21st. I'll give MSU the edge considering that they won Roy Griak and survived the season with Caleb Rhynard coming back from injury.
#16 Oklahoma State Cowboys (+1/10)
-For most of the season, the Cowboys were hanging around the 10th spot. Of course, it was tough to truly get an idea of just how good this team was considering they didn't go to any competitive meets. They won a relatively easy conference and regionals with some ranked teams, but once they entered nationals they failed to keep their gaps small and had a majority of their scorers were in the 100's range. They finished 18th overall and ended a long season not meeting the expectations they or the public had for them.
#15 NC State Wolfpack (-5/9)
#14 Virginia Cavaliers (+1/13)
-Both of these teams had a rollercoaster ride of season with many struggles and successes. Both teams had very consistent success throughout the regular season and were able to fix some issues they had throughout the season. Unfortunately, once the post season came around the teams struggled. Virginia fell to 3rd (nearly fourth) at ACC's while NC State dropped to 5th at regionals (nearly missing nationals). Once nationals came around, it seemed like both teams were burnout out as Virginia dropped to 22nd and NC State fell to a disappointing 28th.
#13 Furman Paladins (-1/14)
-The Furman Paladins have to have one of the best and most solidified packs in the nation. It was essentially how they survived all year and got through the big meets. Despite different team leaders stepping up at different points, the Paladins never did have an ace or a low-stick to lead them through their meets. Unfortunately, that hurt them a bit at NCAA's where they had to rely on their bottoms scorers to keep the spread tight. The time-spread wasn't what it had been throughout the season asTempleton led the team finishing 51st and while Austin Sprague was the final scorer finishing 149th. The finale wasn't great, but their season of consistent team finishes leaves me impressed with this incredibly young team (5 sophomores and 2 juniors).
#12 BYU Cougars (-2/4)
- I don't like to rank teams where they finished at NCAA's, but the 12th spot does seem pretty reasonable. BYU was killing it throughout the season especially when they tore apart the Wisconsin course and finished 2nd as a team. After dominating the West Coast Conference, BYU stepped into a Mountain region where they got upset by UTEP. The youth of the team was starting to show. How would a team with three sophomores and a freshman leader be able to handle the big dance? Apparently, not as well as they had all season. They finished 12th overall with gaps between the the top three scorers and the bottom two. The Cougars had a great season overall, but seemed to fizzle out towards the end which has me pushing them out of the top-10.
#11 UTEP Miners (+1/11)
-UTEP thrived this season with their Rotich and Koech tearing apart fields and keeping the team score low enough to stay competitive. Cosmas Boit was also another key factor in the team's success and a reason why they won the Notre Dame Invite. However, the issue of their bottom two scorers kept me cautious of just how good they could get. After cruising through a Mountain region where many teams ran tactically, they faced problems at NCAA's. The mass of talent greatly hurt their team score. It didn't help that Cosmas Boit had fallen to 111th either. The Miners ended their season 11th overall, and quite frankly, that seems to be the perfect place to put them. They had strong talent up front, but never had the depth to compete with the best of the best.
#10 Washington Huskies (Wasn't Ranked)
-Somehow, someway, the Washington Huskies snuck out of my radar the entire season. Although to be fair, they weren't shocking many. They were 6th at their own invitational and then 13th at Wisconsin. They were far from being national level contenders. Yet, almost out of nowhere, they forced themselves to get noticed after a surprising win at the West regional race. Of course, the thought of other teams taking it easy for national put a slight dampener on the Huskies victory. No matter though, the Huskies would use their win as momentum at NCAA's. Their new-found leader in Izaic Yorks stepped up big time and finished 30th overall while his teammate, Corey Gilbert, was 2 spots behind him. The Huskies ended up finishing 8th overall at NCAA's. They had some struggles throughout the regular season, but they were able to turn it around and make something of their season. For that reason, they improve in the rankings.
#09 Georgetown Hoyas (+1/12)
-Georgetown is one of the great success stories of this season. Controversy struck the team during the preseason which eventually resulted in the "retiring" of the well respected coach, Pat Henner. In addition to his departure, other teammates left Gtown to pursue their running careers elsewhere (most notably Ryan Gil, Colin Leibold, and Ryan Manahan). It was a massive drawback.
Enter Brandon Bonsey.
The Gtown distance coach stepped up to assume the role that Coach Henner had left. The team was hurting, but they weren't going down without a fight. Throughout the season, they rallied. Experienced members like Darren Fahy and Scott Carpenter were consistent and led the team with consistently being scorers. Bile and Bartelsmeyer did their role by stepping way up in distance and covering the 4th and 5th spots. However, the unsuspected hero at the helm of the team was a sophomore named Jonathan Green who slowly grew and matured throughout the season. Soon he was beginning to compete with the best of the best and push Tiernan to his max level of effort. The team's momentum picked and they fed of each other's confidence. By the time they crossed the line in Louisville, the team had gone from a mess of controversy to the 10th best team in the country. Congratulations Georgetown, on doing what few teams in that situation could accomplish.
-Georgetown is one of the great success stories of this season. Controversy struck the team during the preseason which eventually resulted in the "retiring" of the well respected coach, Pat Henner. In addition to his departure, other teammates left Gtown to pursue their running careers elsewhere (most notably Ryan Gil, Colin Leibold, and Ryan Manahan). It was a massive drawback.
Enter Brandon Bonsey.
The Gtown distance coach stepped up to assume the role that Coach Henner had left. The team was hurting, but they weren't going down without a fight. Throughout the season, they rallied. Experienced members like Darren Fahy and Scott Carpenter were consistent and led the team with consistently being scorers. Bile and Bartelsmeyer did their role by stepping way up in distance and covering the 4th and 5th spots. However, the unsuspected hero at the helm of the team was a sophomore named Jonathan Green who slowly grew and matured throughout the season. Soon he was beginning to compete with the best of the best and push Tiernan to his max level of effort. The team's momentum picked and they fed of each other's confidence. By the time they crossed the line in Louisville, the team had gone from a mess of controversy to the 10th best team in the country. Congratulations Georgetown, on doing what few teams in that situation could accomplish.
#08 Louisville Cardinals (Wasn't Ranked)
-The main theme with Louisville (as well as with a lot of other teams) was that they couldn't compete until they found a reliable fifth man. They struggled throughout all season missing out on wins that were very much within their reach if their fifth man had not buried them in the scoring. Once the postseason came around, it seemed that they wouldn't be able to fix that issue in time to make nationals. That, of course, was not the case. The Cardinals revealed George Yator. He wasn't perfect, but he was a much better fifth man that could close the massive gap in the scoring. The result? A regional title in what had to be the deepest region in the nation. It was an incredible victory that no one had seen coming. At nationals, they showed that their win was not a fluke as they settled for a very underrated 7th place performance (despite their fifth man coming in at 210th). The talent was always there, we just didn't see it until the end.
#07 Michigan Wolverines (+2/6)
-Last week I had the Wolverines at number 4 in the nation. And why not? They were contenders at every meet and comfortably took the BIG 10 and Great Lakes title after a season of solid performances. Still, I knew that they still had a lot to prove at nationals. The BIG 10 and Great Lakes simply were not as good as they typically had been. The usually dominant Wisconsin tanked while Michigan State struggled with injuries. Was there any team in those meets that could have realistically beaten the Wolverines? Enter nationals and the story is very different. The men in blue fell to 9th place overall in the team standings after their ace, Mason Ferlic, bombed his race and fell to 67th overall. The man that was supposed to be a sure-thing top-20 guy fell way off. What might be worse is the fact that he was still their best performer in the meet. The squad walked away with a finish that they, and everyone else knew, was not their best. Despite the unfortunate nationals performance, the Michigan team still held their own throughout the season and did quite well. The only teams they lost to were BYU, Iona, and Syracuse. That's pretty solid when you think about it. They are still one of my favorite teams out there and I love how Coach Sullivan has turned around the program. They may graduate some key guys, but don't dismiss them from being a team to watch next year.
#06 Arkansas Razorbacks (+1/8)
#05 Oregon Ducks (-3/5)
#01 Colorado Buffalos (0/1)
-Yes, I did read the results. Yes, Syracuse did beat Colorado. No, Syracuse was not the better team this season. It was an incredible race from Syracuse at NCAA's. They had a wicked top-three that pulled the score way down and gave them enough of an edge to pull off the upset. Yet, if we're looking at the entire season, Colorado was simply the better overall team. Throughout the season they faced tougher teams and won just as convincingly (all without Saarel). They were the most complete team in the NCAA and they were deep through six guys. Had Saarel been in top-form, the Buffs would've easily run away with their third title. No disrespect to Cuse. I was a big fan of them throughout the season (ask Alex Fox). Yet, in terms of entire team talent and overall season performance, I give Colorado the slight edge.
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Just Missed
Who To Watch
Kicked Off
New Additions
Biggest Surprise of the Week
Team of the Week
Notes
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