That’s the message that Adams State head cross country coach Damon Martin told his Grizzly men’s and women’s teams after they claimed won their ninth overall dual national championship at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships held Saturday, here on the campus of the University of Southern Indiana.

Adams State College senior Rueben Mwei (Kapsabet, Kenya) lead the way for the Grizzlies as he became the first individual champion for Adams State since 2003 when Celedonio Rodriguez won the men’s title.  A furious kick down the final straightaway netted him his first cross country and second overall individual national title.

Mwei, who had won the 3,000-meter steeplechase title during the 2009 outdoor track and field season, finished the 10-kilometer course in 30 minutes, 27.8 seconds defeating Harding (Ark.) sophomore Daniel Kirwa by four tenths of a second.

In the process, the Grizzlies put three runners in the top six and five in the top 11 as they dominated the rest of the field with a team score of just 23 points, the lowest at any NCAA Division I, II or III National Championship since 1992 when the then ASC Indians made collegiate cross country history that has not been repeated when they “perfect-scored” their first NCAA Division II and 13th overall national championship win in Slippery Rock, Pa.

The Grizzlies have now won back-to-back and seven total NCAA Division II crowns as they matched arch-rival Western State for the most in the division’s history.  ASC’s 19 total titles, 12 of which came at the NAIA level, are the most of any college at any level in the country.

The Mountaineers finished second on Saturday with 86 total points despite the fact that all five Grizzly scorers finished ahead of their No. 1 man— senior Iain Donnan.

The Grizzlies, who had five of the top eight team scorers, were so dominant that they would have defeated the other 23 teams in the meet by a 23-42 margin if those squads could have joined forces.  All seven ASC runners earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-America honors that went to the top 40 individual finishers.

On the women’s side, freshman Alicia Nelson finished in ninth place and seventh amongst team scorers to lead the Grizzlies to their seventh straight and 15th NCAA Division II title in 18 seasons since moving up from the NAIA ranks, where they also won three crowns.

The Grizzlies, who are the defending NCAA Division II National Champions, have now been ranked first in the country for 12 straight polls dating back more than a year to Oct. 8, 2008.  They have now been ranked first in the region for 16 straight polls dating back to the start of the 2008 campaign.

There was little movement in both sets of rankings as the top three teams in the Central Regional rankings and the top six in the national poll all remained steady.

ASC’s arch-rival Western State remained second in both polls while fellow Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe Colorado Mines remained ranked third in the region and fifth nationally.

The Nebraska-Kearney Lopers did move up to a season-high fourth in the regional rankings and are still ranked 25th nationally while former No. 21 Augustana (S.D.), the former fourth-ranked team in the region, fell down to the seventh spot in the region and out of the national poll.

Minnesota State-Mankato is now ranked fifth in the region while Minnesota State-Moorhead is tabbed sixth.

Fort Lewis and Metro State, who also compete in the RMAC, are now ranked eighth and ninth in the region while Minnesota-Duluth dropped a spot to tenth.

Chico State (Calif.) and Grand Valley State (Mich.) remained as the No. 3 and 4 teams in the national rankings, respectively, while Queens (N.C.) stayed in the sixth spot.  Western Washington moved up one spot to No. 7 while Massachusetts-Lowell jumped up four spots to No. 8.   New No. 9 Southern Indiana and now Stonehill (Mass.) switched spots while rounding out the top 10.

The Grizzlies next race is on Oct. 24 at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships at Washington Park in Denver.  They will be gunning for a fifth straight and 32nd overall conference title.

The NCAA Division II Central Regional Championships are slated for Nov. 7 in Wayne, Neb. and will send five men’s teams to the Nov. 21 NCAA Division II National Championships in Evansville, Ind.

The Grizzly women are still ranked first in the region and fourth in the nation.

–Courtesy Adams State Athletics

MEN’S & WOMEN’S RANKINGS

NEW ORLEANS (September 30, 2009)

Adams State had three women compete in the Western State Mountaineer Open over the weekend and did not compile a team score, while No. 2 GVSU was idle. The Grizzlies and Lakers will both be in action this weekend with Adams State heading to the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree and Grand Valley State heading to the Notre Dame Invitational.

Following Adams and GVSU is Chico State at No. 3, Shippensburg at No. 4, and Alaska Anchorage at No. 5, all of which improved two spots apiece this week.

Chico State competed at Stanford over the weekend and finished fifth as a team against mostly Division I competition. The fifth-place finish bettered last year’s sixth-place showing at the Stanford Invite. No. 4 Shippensburg and No. 5 Alaska Anchorage were idle.

Ninth-ranked Tampa claimed its third team championship of the 2009 season when the Spartans took home the team title at the Southern Indiana Pre-National Invitational last Saturday. The Spartans claimed five of the top ten places in the women’s race and finished with 29 points helping the Spartans break into the women’s top ten this week.

FULL RANKINGS

–Courtesy Keith Nunez, USTFCCCA

Rank School W-L Points Prev
1 Grand Valley St. (24) 6-0 624 1
2 Abilene Christian 6-0 593 2
3 North Ala. (1) 6-0 577 3
4 Central Wash. 6-0 532 5
5 Bloomsburg 6-0 519 4
6 Northwest Mo. St. 5-1 501 6
7 Minn. St. Mankato 6-0 469 7
8 Minn. Duluth 5-1 453 8
9 Tex. A&M-Kingsville 6-0 438 9
10 Albany St. (Ga.) 5-0 391 10

FULL RANKINGS
REGIONAL RANKINGS

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

Rank School Points Prev
1 Adams St. 25 1
2 Western St. 24 2
3 Cal St. Chico 23 4
4 Grand Valley St. 22 3
5 Queens (N.C.) 21 5
6 Abilene Christian 20 6
7 Colorado Mines 19 7
8 Western Wash. 18 8
9 Stonehill 17 9
10 Southern Ind. 16 11

FULL RANKINGS

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

Rank School Points Prev
1 Cal St. Chico 25 3
2 Grand Valley St. 24 2
3 Mo. Southern St. 23 7
4 Adams St. 22 1
5 Alas. Anchorage 21 5
6 Shippensburg 20 4
7 Western Wash. 19 8
8 Tampa 18 9
9 Augustana (S.D.) 17 10
10 Mesa St. 16 15

FULL RANKINGS

FIELD HOCKEY

Rank School W-L Points Prev
1 Bloomsburg (14) 11-1 148 2
2 Shippensburg (1) 12-1 131 1
3 East Stroudsburg 11-2 106 3
4 Stonehill 10-2 99 6
5 Mass.-Lowell 10-2 83 4
6 Kutztown 7-5 71 5
7 Bentley 8-3 48 8
8 Mercyhurst 6-3 43 7
9 Merrimack 8-5 29 9
10 Millersville 6-6 21 10

REGIONAL RANKINGS

MEN’S SOCCER

Rank School W-L Points Prev
1 Cal St. L.A. 11-0-1 25 2
2 Lees-McRae 9-0-0 24 3
3 Tampa 6-0-1 23 4
4 Millersville 9-1-0 22 5
5 Southern N.H. 10-1-1 21 6
6 Drury 11-0-0 20 8
7 Sonoma St. 10-0-2 19 7
8 Fort Lewis 9-1-0 18 9
9 Truman 9-1-1 17 10
10 Slippery Rock 10-1-0 16 12

http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-soccer/division_ii1.html
REGIONAL RANKINGS

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Rank School W-L Points Prev
1 West Fla. 11-0-0 25 2
2 St. Rose 11-0-0 24 3
3 Columbus St. 10-0-1 23 5
4 Grand Valley St. 10-0-2 22 4
5 Seattle Pacific 10-1-0 21 1
6 Metro St. 11-1-0 20 6
7 Carson-Newman 11-0-0 19 7
8 Rollins 8-1-1 18 8
9 West Chester 9-1-1 17 9
10 Midwestern St. 8-0-2 16 10

FULL RANKINGS
REGIONAL RANKINGS

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

1 Concordia-St. Paul (32) 19-0 800 1
2 Cal St. San B’dino 16-0 768 2
3 UC San Diego 16-1 721 3
4 Central Mo. 19-3 692 5
5 Neb.-Kearney 18-1 638 8
6 West Tex. A&M 18-3 615 6
7 Washburn 19-2 594 9
8 Emporia St. 17-2 579 6
9 Tampa 14-2 564 4
10 Minn. Duluth 14-3 506 10

FULL RANKINGS

The unofficial point standings of announced at the course had the Grizzly men winning over arch-rival Western State by 21 points (67-88) with Chico State (Calif.), led by individual champion Scott Bauhs finishing third with 120 points. The 2-time defending champion Abilene Christian (Texas) Wildcats finished fourth with 128 points, according to those results.

Junior Brian Medigovich (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) was also in the top 10 for ASC, which has now won six NCAA Division II National Championships an an all-collegiate record 18 overall.

The Grizzly women, who have now won six straight and 14 overall NCAA Division II National Championships, finished with 79 points and were announced first ahead of Grand Valley State and Western State. ASC’s women have now 17 all-time national championships, including three at the NAIA level, also an all-collegiate record.

ASC has now won six dual NCAA Division II titles and eight overall.

Both ASC teams came into the race ranked first in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Poll.

–Courtesy of Adams State Athletics

In order to be eligible to participate in the championships, teams and individuals had to qualify in their respective NCAA region competitions that were held this past weekend.

A total of 368 participants (184 men and 184 women) will compete in the championships. All regions automatically qualified two teams of seven student-athletes each. Additional berths were awarded to the regions with the first eight team finishers at the 2007 NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships.

All regions automatically qualify the top two individuals from non-qualifying teams. In addition, all individual competitors who finish in the top five overall places in their respective regional meet and are not a member of a qualifying team automatically advance to the championships.

Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania will host the championships, November 22, at Cooper’s Lake Campground in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. The men’s race will begin at noon Eastern time followed by the women’s race at 1:15 p.m. Eastern time.

PARTICIPATING TEAMS

– Courtesy of NCAA.com