COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In the inaugural Division II Men's and Women's Cross Country National and conference polls, both University of Colorado Colorado Springs programs are ranked nationally in the top 15, as voted on by committee members.
The Mountain Lions women's team debuts at No. 6 in the nation with 50 points. In the conference rankings released on Tuesday, UCCS was second out of six teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference behind Western Colorado University. UCCS has won both of their regular season meets – the UCCS Rust Buster on Sept. 4 at Monument Valley Park and the UCCS XC Open on Sept. 18 at Cherokee Ridge Golf Course.
On the men's side, UCCS received 54 points for a No. 7 ranking, and they are seated third in the conference rankings behind Western Colorado and Colorado Christian University. The Mountain Lions opened their season with a dual win over Fort Lewis College on Sept. 4 at the UCCS Rust Buster, before narrowly taking second place to Colorado Christian on Sept. 18.
Western Colorado are ranked first in both polls. The Mountaineers received all possible six-first place votes for 90 points on the men's side, and three first place votes as part of their 73 points on the women's side.
The Mountain Lions women's program will travel to Canyon, Texas this Friday for their last regular season meet before the RMAC Championships. UCCS will compete at 10:45 a.m. (MT) at the West Texas Buffalo Stampede. The UCCS men's team will return to competition on Oct. 24 for the conference championship meet.
The committee consists of head coaches that volunteered to represent their conference. Division II conferences with teams competing in 2020 are the LSC, RMAC, MIAA, PBC, GSC, GMAC and GVLC.
Each Monday by 5 p.m. the conference representative submits a ranking of the top six men's and top six women's teams in their conference. A team cannot be ranked in their conference or nationally until they have competed this season.
Each Tuesday by 5 p.m. the conference representative submits a national ranking of all of the teams (from the conference rankings) in order from 1-15 for the men's and women's teams.
