Mountain, West Should Produce Big Number of NCAA Teams

By Adam Schneider of DyeStat 

Nine NCAA D1 regional meets will determine 18 automatic qualifiers but the West, Mountain and Great Lakes regions will garner most of the at-large bids. The biggest factor in determining those teams will be in figuring out who makes the best adjustment to the increased distatance to 10,000 meters. As many as nine of those additional bids could come from the Mountain and West regions.

There is no surprise that the top three regions (add Great Lakes) have teams that occupy the top nine spots in the latest rankings. The top two spots are occupied by Northern Arizona and BYU and they will race for the first time this season at the Mountain Regional on BYU's home turf. Stanford and Portland will challenge for a trophy at the NCAA championships and should battle for the West region title. 

Regional meets this weekend: 

Nov. 9 Princeton and Georgetown at Mid Atlantic Regional at University Park, PA 

Nov. 9 Furman, Eastern Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina State, and Virginia Tech at Southeast Regional at Rock Hill, SC 

Nov. 9 Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan, and Michigan State at Great Lakes Regional at Terre Haute, IN 

Nov. 9 Northern Arizona, BYU, Colorado, Air Force, Colorado State, Wyoming, and Southern Utah at Mountain Regional at Provo, UT 

Nov. 9 Stanford, Portland, Washington, Boise State, Oregon, UCLA, Washington State, and Gonzaga at West Regional at Sacramento, CA 

Nov. 9 Iowa State and Oklahoma State at Midwest Regional at Peoria, IL

NCAA D1 Regional Index

Top 20 (Previous ranking)

1. Northern Arizona (1) at Mountain

2. BYU (2) at Mountain

3. Wisconsin (5) at Great Lakes

4. Stanford (4) at West

5. Portland (3) at West

6. Colorado (6) at Mountain

7. Washington (7) at West

8. Boise State (10) at West

9. Oregon (11) at West

10. Iowa State (8) at Midwest

11. Oklahoma State (NR) at Midwest

12. Syracuse (9) at Northeast

13. Notre Dame (NR) at Great Lakes

14. Air Force (14) at Mountain

15. Colorado State (12) at Mountain

16. Wyoming (15) at Mountain

17. Mississippi (17) at South

18. UCLA (13) at West

19. Furman (18) at Southern

20. Purdue (20) at Great Lakes

Watch List - Washington State, Eastern Kentucky, Virginia (19), North Carolina State, Southern Utah (16), Michigan, Michigan State, Arkansas, Gonzaga, Virginia Tech