SALEM, ORE. -- After moving up one spot this week, the Willamette University women's cross country team is now ranked #9 in the NCAA Division III Poll, as released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Oct. 15.

In addition to its national ranking, the WU women's team is ranked #1 in the West Region. The Bearcat men's team is ranked #4 in the West Region. The men received votes in the national poll, but did not move into the Top 35.

Johns Hopkins University (Md.) remained #1 in the women's National Poll with all eight first place votes and 280 points. St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) advanced one position to #2 with 268 points. Middlebury College (Vt.) also moved up one position and is now #3 with 265 points.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology slipped from #2 to #4 with 248 points. SUNY Geneseo (N.Y.) stayed at #5 and received 239 points.

Oberlin College (Ohio) was listed at #7 for the second consecutive week with 234 points, while Williams College (Mass.) maintained the #8 ranking with 226 points. Willamette held the #9 spot with 211 points. Tufts University (Mass.) switched places with the Bearcats and dropped to #10 with 206 points.

In the men's National Poll, North Central College (Ill.) continued at #1 after receiving all eight first place votes and 280 points. St. Olaf College (Minn.) retained the #2 position with 272 points, and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire stayed at #3 with 264 points.

The remainder of the Top 10 also remained the same. Williams was #4 with 256 points, University of Wisconson-Platteville owned the #5 ranking with 243 points, and Colby College (Maine) was #6 with 237 points.  SUNY Geneseo clung to the #7 spot with 230 points, while Central College (Iowa) was #8 with 229 points.

St. Lawrence was ranked #9 with 212 points. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was #10 with 210 points.

Willamette kept the #1 women's ranking in the West Region, while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) stayed at #2. In fact, the entire Top 10 in the West Region remained unchanged from a week ago. Whitworth University was #3, with University of Puget Sound at #4 and Whitman College at #5.

The leader in the men's West Region Rankings was Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.), as the Stags continued to hold the #1 ranking. Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) retained the #2 spot and Occidental College (Calif.) maintained the #3 ranking. As with the women's rankings, all of the Top 10 men's teams in the West Region remained the same.

Willamette was ranked #4 and University of Puget Sound was #5. Whitman owned the #6 ranking, while Whitworth was #7. The NWC also was represented by Lewis & Clark College at #10.

This weekend, the Bearcats will run at two cross country meets on Saturday, Oct. 18. One group of Willamette runners will compete at the AAE Invitational in Winneconne, Wis., with the first race starting at 10:30 a.m. (CDT)/8:30 a.m. (PDT). A second group of Bearcats will participate in the Lewis & Clark Invitational in Portland, Ore., starting at 11 a.m. (PDT).