NEW ORLEANS – If this past weekend’s regional championships are any indicator, the race for the NCAA Division II Men’s Cross Country national team title is going to be a wild one.

For the first time in program history, defending national champion Colorado Mines is favored in the pre-NCAAs edition of the USTFCCCA’s National Coaches’ Poll ahead of the NCAA Championships on November 19 in Saint Leo, Florida, but the Orediggers’ grip on the top spot is tenuous, at best.

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Division II XC Polls/Rankings Central | WOMEN’S POLL

NCAA DIVISION II NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL TOP 5 – MEN 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Colorado Mines Adams State GVSU Chico State Alaska Anchorage View Complete Men’s National Coaches’ Poll

Colorado Mines escaped its South Central Regional on Saturday by the slimmest of margins, prevailing on a tie-break win over rival Adams State. ASU moved up a spot to No. 2 with the result.

Six of the poll’s eight voters cast first-place ballots in favor of Mines, while the remaining two top nods went to the Grizzlies. The Orediggers are trying to repeat as national champs, while Adams State – continuing its streak of top-two pre-NCAAs ranks dating back to 2003 – is seeking to win its sixth title in the past eight years.

Despite winning the Midwest in convincing fashion, the men of Grand Valley State lost the first-place vote they held in the previous poll and stepped down a position to No. 3.

West champion Chico State held firm at No. 4, followed at No. 5 by regional foe Alaska Anchorage – setting up another potential intra-regional battle for a spot on the four-team podium.

Rounding out the top-10 were Central Region winner No. 6 Augustana (S.D.), No. 7 Southern Indiana, a tie at No. 8 between first-time qualifier CSU-Pueblo and Cal Poly Pomona, and a tie at No. 10 between Missouri Southern and Western State.

No team inside the top-10 moved more than two spots from a week ago, and – with a few notable exceptions – that was a trend that continued to manifest itself for the remaining 60 percent of the poll.

The biggest move of either gender’s poll was made by No. 15 Academy of Art, which joined the top-25 from among the nation’s unranked teams as it preps for its first-ever NCAA Championships appearance.

Along with CSU-Pueblo and Academy of Art, unranked Concord will also be making its NCAA Championships debut.

New to the poll at No. 22 is Northwest Missouri, which is making its first NCAA appearance since 1998 with its highest rank in the poll since 2000.

Northwest Missouri’s streak of nearly two decades without qualifying for NCAAs was one of several such lengthy streaks snapped this year.

Vote-receiving Lewis made the championships for the first time since 2001, No. 17 Hillsdale qualified for the first time since 2004, and No. 13 Saginaw Valley State is appearing for the first time since 2009.

Also returning to the poll was No. 25 Stonehill.

No top-25 team fell farther than did No. 24 UC San Diego with a 13-spot fall. The Tritons, despite the fall, will still be at NCAAs. The same can’t be said for several other ranked teams from last week in Simon Fraser and Bellarmine.

See the full poll below.

The USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll for DII ranks the top 25 teams in the country. Voting panel of eight consists of the eight regional representatives, per gender.