See the final National Championships Preview here.

WEEK 6: NIRCA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
October 28, 2007 | Print Rankings

The top 10 finishers at Nationals will be named NIRCA All-Americans! And to give clubs an idea of who they're up against we compiled a list of the Top 20 fastest 6k times for women and 8k times for men. The runners listed below are registered for Nationals (any runner that ranked in the Top 20 was removed if not racing at Nationals). These rankings as based solely on individual race times and do not take course difficulty, weather conditions or any other factors effecting the race quality into account.

Teams like the heavily favored Penn State women have raced on some tough courses this fall (leading to very few of their times showing up on the Top 20 list) while the North Carolina women had the home course advantage on a considerably fast course at the UNC Invite. The men's list is dominated by Oregon and Midwest runners, most likely due to the hilly Belmont Plateau course run on for East Regionals. The playing field will finally be level when all the teams collide at Nationals on Saturday!

Top 20 Women - 6k

Top 20 Men - 8k

WEEK 5: NIRCA TEAM RANKINGS
October 21, 2007 | Print Rankings

WOMEN                   Prev. Rank

1. Penn State          (2)
2. Michigan             (3)
3. North Carolina    (1)
4. Oregon                (4)
5. Ball State            (NR)

Regional Championships confirmed what we’ve been seeing all season long: Penn State and Michigan are dominant!…and on a collision course for a showdown in Bloomington. Penn State, battling injuries, breezed to the East Region title and back into the #1 spot by sweeping spots 2-7 to easily overtake UVA and Syracuse (UNC did not attend). Likewise, Michigan ran away with the Midwest title, scoring 20 points to runner-up Ball State’s 52. Indiana served noticed with a 1-2 finish but an incomplete team (at Regionals at least) still leaves us wondering how good they are (and will be on their home course for Nationals). Ball State’s performance lands them the #5 spot behind UNC, who scored a perfect 15 pts. to win their invite two weeks ago, and UO (both idle this week). 

MEN                        Prev. Rank

1. Michigan             (2)
2. Oregon                (1)
3. North Carolina   (3)
4. Penn State          (5)
5. Illinois                 (4)

Michigan has not only gone unbeaten in NIRCA races this season, they haven’t even been seriously tested. Mrun’s Midwest Regional win over some tough competition that included last year's national runner-up Illinois was enough to push them ahead of Oregon and into the top spot. Oregon continues to look tough from race results, has yet to face a NIRCA club which leaves us anxiously awaiting their showdown with the rest of the country at Nationals. Carolina, coming off a 1-5 sweep of their home invite two weeks ago, remains #3 and is hungry to defend their title when they trek to Bloomington. Penn State’s convincing win at East Regionals gives the Nittany Lions the #4 spot and an ever-dangerous Illinois club drops one to #5 after suffering a 20 point loss in Muncie to the Wolverines.

WEEK 4: NIRCA TEAM RANKINGS
October 14, 2007

No Races

WEEK 3: NIRCA TEAM RANKINGS
October 7, 2007

North Carolina started the fall season out with a dominating win at their home invite over the weekend. Finishing their top five runners with in 55 seconds of one another (all under 23:00) and sweeping the top eight spots, the Penn State women could no longer hold on to the number one spot. James Madison moves back into the rankings, bumping Syracuse out, after holding their own at the UNC Invite. Over in the midwest region Michigan won their second invite of the season at Eastern Michigan. But be on the look out - three women from Ball State in attendance at EMU made a strong showing placing 5th, 6th and 7th.

Despite two NIRCA races this week there are no changes in the rankings. The Michigan men won their second invite of the season taking many of the top spots on a fast course at Eastern Michigan University. UNC took the team title at their home invite with a record low 15 points and top five runners under 28:15. Penn State holds on to number five and Oregon stays number one after last week's performances.

WEEK 2: NIRCA TEAM RANKINGS
September 30, 2007 | Print Rankings

Women	Prev. rank
1. Penn State	(1)
2. Michigan	(2)
3. North Carolina	(3)
4. Oregon	(NR)
5. Syracuse	(NR)

Penn State held on to the top spot after a solid 6th place finish at an NCAA Div. 1 invitational, still running without their top runner. Michigan dominated their NIRCA invite, The Michigan Fall Classic, easily outdistancing Michigan State and Michigan-Dearborn. Oregon jumped into the rankings with fast times at an NCAA meet (the Willamette Invitational in Salem, OR) putting their top 2 under 19:05 (5k) and Syracuse debuted with a balanced effort at the Festival of Races in New York.

Oregon put their scoring 5 under 26:14 (8k) and had less than a minute spread (51 seconds) in the Willamette Invitational to place a very impressive 6th out of 20 teams and stay atop the NIRCA rankings. Michigan also served noticed at the Fall Classic (5k) with their top two under 16 and all scoring five under 16:30 (another club with tight grouping and a 50 second spread) and jumped from 4 to 2 this week. UNC fell a spot to 3 and Illinois dropped to 4. Penn State enters the rankings with a huge improvement from last week on an arguably more challenging course averaging 29:31 at the PSU Spiked Shoe Invite.

WEEK 1: NIRCA TEAM RANKINGS
September 23, 2007 | Print Rankings

Women	Prev. rank
1. Penn State	(1)
2. Michigan	(2)
3. North Carolina	(3)
4. Purdue	(NR)
5. James Madison	(4)

Defending National Champion Penn State opened the season with a strong 7th place finish at an NCAA Div. 2 Invitational at Lock Haven University finishing ahead of host LHU, a perennial Div.2 power, and putting all scoring 5 under 24 minutes (6k). The following week the Nittany Lions cleaned up at the JMU Invite going 1-2-3-4-7 without their #1 runner and defending NIRCA champion Ruth Mick. With all 7 runners back from last years title team, Penn State looks tough to beat but a lot of new clubs will have their say and don’t expect power programs like Michigan and UNC to roll over. Watch for James Madison, Purdue, Maryland, and Indiana to improve as the year goes on and keep an eye on the West Region clubs to show NIRCA what they have.

The men’s field seems a little more wide open than the women’s. Last years top clubs, North Carolina, Illinois, and Michigan all look very strong but will be pushed by newcomers Oregon, Virginia, and Stanford. Oregon in particular looks loaded on paper but that’s why we run the races. Don’t forget that Illinois burst on to the scene late last year and came within points of heavily favored UNC at Nationals and both clubs return plenty. Look for Indiana to make some noise as well, especially holding the home-course (and fan) advantage for Nationals this year.