2024 NCAA DI Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 6

NEW ORLEANS – All eyes on Madison, Wisconsin.

The 2024 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships are on Saturday.

Before the action gets underway uninterrupted at 9:30 am ET on ESPNU, let’s find out which women’s teams the electorate feels have the best shot at challenging for the national title by looking at the final installment of the 2024 NCAA DI Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll.

National Coaches’ Polls are presented by AthleticNET.

BYU is the consensus favorite to win its second national title in program history. The Cougars, who last topped the podium in 2021 and hauled in nine of a possible 11 first-place votes, have been an absolute juggernaut this year. Just this past weekend, BYU rolled to the team title at the Mountain Region Championships with 52 points, 13 fewer than fellow top-5 program Northern Arizona – and that was without running top athletes Lexy Halladay-Lowry and Jenna Hutchins. Earlier in the season, the Cougars reigned supreme at the Big 12 Championships and proved their mettle on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course with a decisive victory at the Wisconsin Pre-National.

Oregon comes into the NCAA Championships ranked second with two first-place votes. The Ducks are flying high at the right time, having posted back-to-back victories at the West Region Championships and the Big Ten Championships. Oregon’s 1-2 punch of Silan Ayyildiz and Maddy Elmore led the way in both of those meets, finishing second and third, and first and second, respectively. The Ducks have four national titles to their name with the last coming in 2016. You might remember Oregon beat Michigan by just one point eight years ago.

Northern Arizona is projected a clear third by the electorate and has an outside shot at winning the national title. The Lumberjacks finished runner-up at the NCAA Championships last year to NC State in a 123-124 thriller. Back in early October, the Lumberjacks posted their biggest win of the season to date at the Joe Piane Invitational, beating both BYU and Notre Dame. That was without two-time All-American Elise Stearns in the lineup. Stearns returned last month to finish runner-up at the Big Sky Championships to teammate Aliandrea Upshaw and then was NAU’s top runner at the Mountain Region Championships this past weekend.

West Virginia and Notre Dame sit fourth and fifth, respectively, and should contend for the final spot on the podium come Saturday. The Mountaineers, whose best finish at NCAAs was fourth in 2008, should have two strong low sticks in the guise of Ceili McCabe and Joy Naukot (McCabe has back-to-back wins to her credit, taking top individual honors at both the Mid-Atlantic Region Championships and the Big 12 Championships). The Irish, which finished fourth last year, dominated the Great Lakes Region with 51 points and won their first ACC title in program history just a few weeks earlier (Siona Chisholm paced Notre Dame each time).

Here are the rest of the top-10 teams in the final National Coaches’ Poll of the season: No. 6 Washington, No. 7 Alabama, No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 Georgetown and No. 10 New Mexico.