NEW ORLEANS – How drastically did this weekend’s action, including the loaded Wisconsin adidas and Pre-National invitationals, impact the week five edition of the men’s NCAA Division I Cross Country Regional Rankings announced Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA)?

The long answer:

• Three regions saw preseason national top-10 teams drop out of automatic qualifying position
• Six new teams moved into position to grab one of their region’s two automatic berths into the NCAA Championships on November 21 in Louisville (to be determined on the course at regional championships on November 13)
• One region crowned a new No. 1
• 15 teams moved up or down four spots or more from last time.

The short answer: Quite drastically.

And the aftershock of these changes will continue to reverberate through Tuesday’s release of the National Coaches’ Polls – revealed via live podcast on USTFCCCA.org at noon ET.

Regional Rankings Summary PDF | Division I XC Rankings Central | All-Time (2010-)
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After disappointing weekends for varying reasons, Stanford, Wisconsin and Villanova – each of which were ranked top-10 in the preseason National Coaches’ Polls – all find themselves in unfamiliar territory at the regional level.

Stanford, widely hailed as the biggest threat to two-time defending national champion Colorado, finished 21st at Wisconsin to fall from No. 2 in the West Region to No. 7 – its lowest rank since week four of the 2013 season. The Cardinal got a third-place finish from Sean McGorty this weekend and Garrett Sweatt was 25th, but key contributors in Jack Keelan (95th) and All-American Sam Wharton (200th) both struggled.

Stanford once again ran without the All-American Rosa brothers Jim and Joe, as well as frosh phenom Grant Fisher. A more complete line-up is expected for the Pac-12 Championships at the end of the month.

Notably, Stanford ultimately ended up winning the West in 2013 after fall to No. 7 in the Regional Rankings.

Filling the void in the West left by the Cardinal’s drop were new No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 Boise State, both of which moved up two spots after impressive ninth- and 11th-place finishes at Wisconsin. Also notable from the West were Portland’s two-spot improvement to No. 6 and UC Santa Barbara’s five-spot jump to No. 8.

Suffering an equally disappointing loss at the adidas Invitational was host Wisconsin, which finished 17th overall to drop to No. 4 in the Great Lakes Region from No. 2 in the previous rankings. The Badgers got a pair of top-10 finishes from Malachy Schrobilgen and Morgan McDonald, but only one other UW runner –Russell Sandvold in 80th – placed among the top 150 individual finishers. Only five Badgers crossed the line on Friday.

The USTFCCCA archive of Regional Rankings dates back to 2010, during which time the Badgers have never been ranked this low. In fact, one has to go all the way back to 2001 to find Wisconsin’s most recent fourth-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional. Only nine times since 1972 have the Badgers finished outside the top-two at the Great Lakes Regional.

Moving up in Wisconsin’s stead were No. 2 Michigan State and No. 3 Indiana, which finished 12th and 16th at Wisco.

Villanova, previously ranked No. 7 nationally in the preseason, suffered its second upset loss of the season at the Princeton Invitational on Saturday, losing to Penn, 42-51, despite the trio of Patrick Tiernan, Jordy Williamsz and Robert Denault sweeping the top three individual spots. Penn got six runners across the line before Nova’s fourth man came in.

Consequently, Penn moved up four spots to No. 2 in the Mid-Atlantic Region – its highest rank in the USTFCCCA archives – while Villanova dropped to No. 3, its lowest spot since 2013.

Florida State moved to No. 1 in the South Region to headline six teams that moved into their respective regions’ automatic qualifying positions – alongside the aforementioned UCLA, Michigan State and Penn squads.

FSU finished 18th at Wisconsin with its full squad for the first time this season, while former South favoriteOle Miss disappointed with a 24th-place finish to drop to No. 2.

In the Southeast Region, Furman finished sixth at the Wisconsin adidas Invite by a single point over regional rival NC State, 310-311, to sneak into the No. 2 spot just ahead of the Wolfpack.

Directly behind those two squads in the Wisconsin standings in eighth place was Tulsa. Led by individual winner Marc Scott, the Golden Hurricane jumped two spots to No. 2 in the Midwest Region after defeating former No. 2 Oklahoma and former No. 3 Iowa State head-to-head. Those two moved to No. 4 and No. 7 respectively, replaced by Tulsa and new No. 3 Illinois.

Making the biggest impressions of the weekend were Pittsburgh (up six spots to No. 9 in the Mid-Atlantic) and LSU (unranked to No. 9 in the South Central). South Dakota State (Central), UMass Lowell (Northeast) and UC Santa Barbara (West) all moved up five spots from last time.

Joining the rankings this week were Butler and Ohio from the Great Lakes; Iowa and Eastern Illinois in the Midwest; LSU and UTSA in the South Central; and San Jose State in the West.

NCAA Division I Regional Championships will be held around the country on Friday, November 13 with the national meet occurring eight days later in Louisville, Kentucky.

USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning teams’ strength with current season results (if applicable) in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships.

WOMEN’S REGIONAL RANKINGS & RECAP HERE