NEW ORLEANS – The Baldwin Wallace University women's cross country team raced into the latest United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division III National Coaches' Poll.
After being unranked for the entire season, the Yellow Jackets jumped all the way up to No. 18 in Week 8 and is the highest-ranked team from the Great Lakes Region. The defending four-time Ohio Athletic Conference champions, Otterbein University, come in at No. 31 as the only other OAC program to make the national poll.
On Saturday, the BW women captured the school's first regional team title, men's or women's, by winning the 2018 NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships. Previously, the women's team had finished as high as second on four separate occasions: 1987, 1999, 2001 and 2002.
All five of the Yellow Jackets' top runners turned in All-Great Lakes Region performances by finishing in the top 35 of the meet, propelling BW past five nationally-ranked programs for the team crown.
By finishing as one of the top two teams in the Great Lakes Region, BW received an automatic bid to compete at the NCAA Championships, marking the first time the Yellow Jackets have returned to the national meet since 2009 and the eighth time in program history.
BW will conclude its season on Saturday, Nov. 17, at the 2018 NCAA Championships, hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh at the Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wisconsin.
