FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Complete USTFCCCA Rankings
Sept. 22, 2010-- For the first time this season the North Central College men's cross country squad is the nation's No. 1 ranked team, claiming six of the eight first place votes to secure the top spot in the third installment of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division III Coaches' Poll, released Wednesday.
The Cardinals garnered 278 total points and six of the eight first place nods, surpassing Midwest Region rival Washington University in Saint Louis for the No. 1 position. The Bears fall to second in the rankings with 271 points and two first place votes. The rest of the top five remained unchanged from a week ago, Allegheny College (Pa.) was third (261 points), Haverford College (Pa.) was fourth (257 points) with the State University of New York-Geneseo (251 points) rounding out the top five.
Augustana College was the only other College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin institution to appear in the Top 35 rankings, coming in at 28th with 58 points. The Vikings were unranked the previous week.
The Cardinals rise to the top spot coincides with an impressive showing at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships last Friday, finishing second overall amongst a 32-team field featuring teams from all three NCAA divisions, the NAIA and junior college ranks. The University of Illinois, currently ranked sixth in the NCAA Division I Midwest Region, won the meet with a team score of 25 followed by the Cardinals 51 points. The University of Illinois-Chicago was a distant third with 81 points.
Michael Spain claimed top individual honors at the meet, winning the 8,000-meter race by a three-second margin, crossing the tape in 24:23 as five Cardinal runners finishing among the 20 in a race featuring over 340 runners.
The Cardinals are idle this weekend before returning to action on Friday, Oct. 1, sending the top squad to South Bend, Ind. for the Notre Dame Invitational while the rest of the team heads north to Somers, Wis. for the Carthage Invitational.
