ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— For the first time this cross country season, there was movement at the top of the USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll rankings released on Tuesday afternoon, with the University of New Mexico women’s cross country team falling two spots and checking in at No. 3 in the country.
UNM had previously been ranked first in the country in the first four polls of the season with 330 points and all 11 first-place votes. The Lobos received 304 points in the current poll.
Colorado took over the top ranking, moving up one spot from the third week and received all of the 11 first-place votes for 330 points. Boise State moved up three spots to the No. 2 ranking after picking up 315 points.
The new rankings reflect the order of team finishers at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, with the Buffaloes, Broncos and Lobos scoring 80, 91 and 130 points, respectively.
Oregon stayed in the fourth spot with 295 points followed by Stanford, who also fell two spots in the current poll. Villanova (271 points) and Arkansas (257 points) both moved up two spots to rank sixth and seventh, while BYU (240 points) also moved up two spots to improve to ninth nationally.
According to the USTFCCCA release, 23 of the top-30 teams saw some sort of movement including eight in the top-10.
The biggest movements in the top half of the poll were Indiana, who jumped up eight spots from 19 to 11, and North Carolina State, who dropped seven places from six to 13.
New Mexico will have an opportunity to climb back in the polls on Oct. 13, when they travel back to Madison, Wis., and the Zimmer Championship Course for the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals.