Cross country week two rankings show a minor shift for Cyclones
September 24, 2019
The latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Coaches’ poll resulted in a small change for the Iowa State Cyclones.
Week two’s edition of the national rankings, released on Tuesday afternoon, saw a small change for the Cyclone women’s squad as they dropped one spot from last week’s placings to No. 17 in Division I. The Cyclones also retained their No. 1 ranking in the Midwest Regional, which is set to take place Nov. 15 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Coach Amy Rudolph and her squad’s only meet of the season so far was back on Sept. 6, when Iowa State opened their season in a performance at the Hawkeye Invitational. Led by individual champion Abby Caldwell, the Cyclones ran to a second place team finish in Iowa City, Iowa.
The next test for the Cyclone women will be Oct. 4 in South Bend, Indiana, as they will run in the annual Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. They will be up against many of the best teams in the U.S., including current top five teams Washington and New Mexico and national champ Colorado. This will be a benchmark for the women’s team before the grueling postseason, which starts Nov. 2.
Over on the men’s side, coach Martin Smith and company kept their No. 5 ranking from last week, as the top five squads stayed the same. At the top is three-time defending national champ Northern Arizona, who leads the national rankings for the 24th consecutive week, the second longest streak in the history of the USTFCCCA Poll.
The Cyclones opened their season in convincing fashion, running to a third place team finish Saturday at the John McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana. While finishing third in the overall standings to Stanford and Northern Arizona, Iowa State did have all six of their runners finish in the top-25 over a field of more than 130.
Leading the way was senior All-American Edwin Kurgat, who began his final season in a Cyclone uniform in dominant fashion, winning the individual race by holding off Stanford Cardinal junior Thomas Ratcliffe over the last quarter mile by four seconds.
The Cyclones will have a little over three weeks until their next and final race of the regular season Oct. 18 in the prestigious Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin. Iowa State is set to take on 36 squads from across the country, many of which are currently ranked in the top-30 poll.
Like a majority of October meets, the Cyclones are looking to gain some big-race experience from this contest to draw back on in the postseason, where they will defend their No. 1 Midwest Regional Ranking.
Men’s Rankings:
1. Northern Arizona
2. BYU
3. Washington
4. Colorado
5. Iowa State
6. Stanford
7. Portland
8. Oklahoma State
9. Notre Dame
10. Wisconsin
11. Oregon
12. Syracuse
13. North Carolina State
14. Colorado State
15. Ole Miss
16. Michigan
17. Wyoming
18. Indiana
19. Purdue
20. Iona
21. Middle Tennessee
22. Virginia
23. Princeton
24. UCLA
25. Arkansas
26. Tulsa
27. Air Force
28. Eastern Kentucky
29. Villanova
30. Eastern Utah
Women’s Rankings:
1. Colorado
2. New Mexico
3. Arkansas
4. Washington
5. Stanford
6. BYU
7. Michigan
8. North Carolina State
9. Oregon
10. Wisconsin
11. Michigan State
12. Notre Dame
13. Boise State
14. Ole Miss
15. Furman
16. Penn State
17. Syracuse
18. Iowa State
19. Florida State
20. Oklahoma State
21. Ohio State
22. Minnesota
23. Princeton
24. Columbia
25. Northern Arizona
26. Boston College
27. UCLA
28. Indiana
29. Villanova
30. Utah