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DIII Women's Cross Country Rankings: Preseason Poll

Preseason Poll released Sept. 4:

                                                  Place

Rank  Team                      Region    Points  in 06

1     Amherst College (MA) (7)     NE      279     2

2     Calvin College (MI) (1)      GL      270     3

3     Washington University (MO)   MW      262     4

4     Williams College (MA)        NE      260     8

5     Grinnell (IA)                C       243     7

6     Luther (IA)                  C       233    11

6     Tufts University (MA)        NE      233     5

8     SUNY Geneseo (NY)            A       223     9

9     College of New Jersey        A       207    22

11    Dickinson College (PA)       ME      196     6

10    Wisconsin Eau Claire         MW      195    12

12    Case Western (OH)            GL      193    10

13    Wisconsin-LaCrosse           MW      192    15

14    Willamette University (OR)   W       188    20

15    Keene St. (NH)               NE      171    17

16    Nebraska Wesleyan            C       168    23

17    Haverford (PA)               ME      157    24

18    Wheaton (IL)                 MW      143    --

19    Carleton College (MN)        C       133    16

20    SUNY Plattsburg (NY)         A       121    29

21    Wisconsin-Platteville        MW      113    --

22    St. Thomas (MN)              C       104    18

24    Ithaca College (NY)          A        97    21

24    Middlebury College (VT)      NE       97     1

23    Emory University (GA)        SE       96    14

26    Puget Sound (WA)             W        89    27

27    Depauw University (IN)       GL       70    28

28    Wartburg College (IA)        C        58    --

29    North Central (IL)           MW       52    13

30    Wisconsin-Oshkosh            MW       45    --

31    Trinity Univ. (TX)           SE       38    32

32    St. Lawrence (NY)            A        28    --

33    Johns Hopkins (MD)           ME       24    --

34    Colby College (ME)           NE       19    --

35    Whitman (OR)                 W        12    --

35    SUNY Cortland (NY)           A        12    --

Also receiving votes: Allegheny (PA), 11; Oberlin (OH), 6; Ohio

Wesleyan, 2.

How well do rankings predict National Championship results?

In 2006, only 4 of the teams finished within (+/-) 2 places of their preseason ranking at Nationals.  Only 6 of the teams finished with (+/-) 5 places of their preseason ranking at Nationals.

Only 40% of preseason top 10 finished in the top 10 at Nationals; the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place teams at Nationals came into the season ranked 13^th, 3^rd, and 14^th, respectively.

13 teams ranked in the top 32 in the pre-season poll did not qualify for Nationals.