Central men debut at No. 5 in national cross country rankings

Central College

PELLA —The Central College men’s cross country team is No. 5 in the first in-season USTFCCCA Division III rankings.

The Dutch were rated No. 5 in the preseason as well. Central’s national profile is steadily rising. In 2012, the Dutch tied for 12th at the Division III national meet and last year they climbed to a best-ever sixth-place finish.

Five of the top seven Central runners from last year’s national meet return, including all-American Eli Horton (Runnells, Southeast Polk HS), who finished fourth at least year’s NCAA meet.

Defending champion St. Olaf (Minn.) remains at No. 1 in the rankings, followed by North Central (Ill.), a storied program with 13 national championships, at No. 2. Wis. Eau-Claire moved up a spot to No. 3 after Williams (Mass.) fell to No. 6. St. Lawrence (N.Y.) jumped from No. 25 to grab the No. 4 spot by a slim margin, with 246 points to Central’s 245.

Central will get the opportunity to test its mettle against some of the nation’s best October 3 at Colfax, Wisconsin for the Blugold Invitational hosted by Wis.-Eau Claire. In addition to the host team, No. 1 St. Olaf will be in attendance, as well as No. 8 Wis.-Platteville and No. 10 Wis.-La Crosse.

The Dutch must first take care of business Saturday at the Gil Dodds Invitational hosted by Wheaton (Ill.) No. 11 Washington-St. Louis (Mo.) and No. 20 Univ. of Chicago are also competing.