NEW ORLEANS, La. – Strengthening their case over the course of the past two weeks, the Cloud County Community College men’s cross country team remained the number one ranked team in the country following the release of the latest United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association NJCAA Poll released on Tuesday.
Helping the T-Birds remain in the top spot would be strong performances at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational and Emporia State University Hornet Invitational as CCCC now holds eight out of a possible 10 first-place votes and was just three points shy of being unanimously ranked number one.
Change within the top five of this week’s poll saw Iowa Central Community College swap spots with Central Arizona Community College despite CACC receiving the other two first-place votes. El Paso Community College held steady at number four in the latest poll while Hutchinson Community College climbed two spots to break into the top five for the first time this season.
Through four races this season, Cloud County has finished no worse than fifth in team scoring at a meet this year while finishing each race as the top NJCAA school competing in the meet. The Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational on Sept. 21 saw the T-Birds win the College Division Title and beat out second-ranked Iowa Central Community College by 19 points.
This week’s action for Cloud County will see CCCC travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to take part in the Chile Pepper Festival before finally getting an off week after what will be three straight weeks of action. Including this weekend’s meet, Cloud County will race just twice more before turning their attention to the Region VI Championships on Oct. 26.