We are halfway through our D1 summer team rankings with our top-10 team rankings for D2 and D3 not far behind. Of course, like most humans, we needed a quick day to refresh and to prepare for the next few weeks of content.
Rankings will pick up again on Monday, but we didn't want to leave everyone without a post until then.
Below are a few headlines that have popped up on our radar over the last couple of weeks (not counting some transfers). Here is everything that you need to know about what's going on around the NCAA.
High school Star Addy Wiley Steps Away From Colorado, Now Attending Huntington U.
One of Colorado's greatest high school recruits ever is stepping away from the Boulder-based team and is instead joining Huntington University, an NAIA program in Wiley's home state, Indiana. The news was first reported by David Woods of Indy Star Sports.
Wiley, a recent Class of 2022 high school graduate, put together a historic year on the track as a senior. The native of the Hoosier state has posted jaw-dropping times of 2:04 (800), 4:11 (1500), 4:26 (1600) and 10:13 (3200).
That 1500 meter PR was recently posted at the U20 World Championships this past summer, enough for a 5th place finish. Her 1600 meter PR is also a high school national record.
Wiley's sudden move to Huntington University comes as a surprise. NAIA programs, even ones as successful as the Foresters, rarely get Division One-caliber recruits, much less national record holders.
However, the former Colorado commit does have ties to the university.
For starters, Wiley grew up in Huntington, Indiana and attended Huntington North High School, all of which are in the same town as Huntington University.
Wiley also has close connections to the current coaching staff at HU. Pro runner Lauren Johnson, who is also a coach for the Foresters, paced the high school star en route to her 1600 meter national record earlier this year.
In a past Instagram post, Wiley describes Johnson as one of her, "best friends/mentors."
The motive behind Wiley's sudden move to a dramatically different situation isn't yet clear.
Former UConn Coach Lindsay Crevoiserat Hired As Wisconsin Women's Next Distance Coach
The Wisconsin women have found their new leader.
Earlier this month, the Badgers announced that Lindsay Crevoiserat has been hired as the team's newest women's distance coach. Her introduction to the program comes well over a year since Wisconsin's former women’s distance coach, Mackenzie Wartenberger, stepped away from the team in January of 2021.
Crevoiserat previously coached the distance events at the University of Connecticut. However, the hiring of Beth Alford-Sullivan, who was previously at Tennessee, may have put Crevoiserat in a position where she needed to search for a new coaching role.
That, however, is only speculation.
Regardless, the newest Badger distance coach will be entering a strong roster situation in Madison, Wisconsin. The women's cross country team was recently ranked at TSR #14 and they return six of the top-seven women from last year's lineup which finished 12th at the fall cross country national meet.
Crevoiserat was responsible for noticeable improvements seen from the UConn Huskies over the last few years. Last fall, the UConn women placed 4th as a team at the Northeast Regional XC Championships. They were recently listed as a "Just Missed" team in The Stride Report's preseason rankings.
On the track, individuals such as Eric Van Der Els and Mia Nahom thrived under the direction of Crevoiserat. This past year, Nahom ran 4:35 (mile) and 9:52 (steeple) while Van Der Els ran 3:58 (mile), 7:52 (3k) and 13:36 (5k).
Former Augusta Coach Adam Ward Hired As University of Maine's Next Head Coach
One of the country's top Division Two distance coaches is moving up to the Division One level. That's because earlier this month, the University of Maine announced that former Augusta coach Adam Ward would be joining the Black Bears as the team's newest head coach for both cross country and track and field.
Ward was responsible for the recent rise of the Augusta men over the last few years, a Division Two program in the Peach Belt Conference. This past fall, the men's team earned a perfect score of 15 points at the PBC XC Championships. Despite not earning a national qualifying bid to the 2021 cross country national meet, the Jaguar men did finish 9th place at the 2019 national meet.
Success on the recruiting stage has also improved during Ward's tenure with the Georgia-based program. Late last year, The Stride Report ranked Augusta's men's freshman class at TSR #3 across the entirety of Division Two.
Ward will now venture to a Maine program that has seen very limited success in recent years as far as distance running is concerned.
Riley Masters, a former pro runner for Nike, holds most of the men's school records dating back to 2009 and 2011.
It's a similar story for the Maine women who haven't broken a school record in the distance events since 2013. Their strongest school record in the distance events is arguably Corey Conner's indoor 5000 meter mark of 15:55 from the winter of 2013.
NCAA June Committee Proceedings Report Shows Unanimous Support To Raise D1 XC National Qualifying Teams From 31 to 32
In a June proceedings report, the NCAA Division One Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Committee touched on numerous cross country-related topics.
Amongst those topics were potentially breaking up the Mountain region and creating eight cross country regions in total, limiting at-large Kolas points to the top-15 teams in each meet and changing championship racing distances with the aim for greater equivalency between men and women.
In the end, the committee left each of those championship aspects unchanged.
However, the committee did unanimously support the idea of increasing the number of team qualifiers to the NCAA XC Championships from 31 teams to 32. The committee cited an increase in school sponsorship since 1998, the last time the national meet field size was expanded.
A formal recommendation to the Competition Oversight Committee will be submitted once the NCAA staff works with the, "NCAA travel and finance staffs to evaluate the total budgetary impact."