NEW ORLEANS -- After making history at the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Championships last week, the Christopher Newport cross country teams moved up in the most recent USTFCCCA South Regional Rankings as the women climbed to second in the poll, while the men vaulted to sixth in the latest release from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
After spending the past six weeks ranked third in the region, the women moved up one spot in Tuesday's poll. That stands as the highest position achieved by CNU since the program held down the same No. 2 spot on November 3, 2015. In fact, the 2026 squad is just the fourth team to reach second in the regional poll, joining the 2003, 2014, and 2015 Captains.
Meanwhile, the men returned to the regional rankings after a five-week hiatus. Christopher Newport was previously slotted ninth after the first week of action before reentering the poll in the No. 6 spot this week.
CNU earned the high marks after a remarkable effort at the league meet on Saturday. The women claimed the program's first conference title since 2019 after parking five runners in the top-10 on the individual leaderboard. Headlining the action,
Sarah Dake placed third overall while posting a course-adjusted time of 21:45.9. That stands as the second-fastest 6k clocking in program history.
Along with Dake, five other women earned All-League accolades.
Kayla Lopez and
Esther Paul garnered first-team citations, while
Ella Rafat,
Sarah Bland, and
Courtney Mudd were second-team picks. The six honorees were the most since the 2016 squad also had half-a-dozen award-winners.
On the men's side, two Captains hauled in first-team All-Conference nods.
Andrew Janetsky was the runner-up in the 8k after finishing in 25:07.8. That was the top individual finish by a Captain at the league meet since 2022. Later,
Clayton Rankin brought home his third straight All-Conference award after placing sixth in 25:17.0.
In addition to the league honorees,
Evan Young and
Grant Kutz also finished in the top-25 as the men came in third in the final team standings with 63 points.
Christopher Newport will return to action on November 14 with the NCAA South Region Championships at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Virginia.
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