The Sycamore women finished fourth in the Gold Division at the 2011 Adidas Notre Dame Cross Country Invitational last Friday and were rewarded by moving up to 13th in this week's ratings.

"I am very pleased that we moved up to 13th," John Gartland, Indiana State women's cross country coach, said. "I was not sure that would happen. People realized that it was a hard fought fourth place finish at Notre Dame and we deserved to move up."

The team was not happy with their finish at Notre Dame, however.

"The girls were really disappointed with their finish," Gartland said. "The significance of the rating means that we will be in the seeded section at the Pre-Nationals. The girls are determined to run well on our home course but it will be a great challenge for us."

Michigan State vaulted over Michigan to take over the top spot in the Great Lakes Region with Notre Dame moving up from fifth to third. Indiana remained fourth with Wisconsin moving up to fifth and Toledo dropping from third to sixth. Ohio state and Miami (Ohio) each moved up a spot with Central Michigan moving up four to ninth, and Butler remaining 10th. Dayton is now 11th with Purdue 12th, Indiana State 13th, Ohio 14th, and eastern Michigan 15th.

The Sycamore men dropped out of the top 10 for the first time this season as they are rated 11th in the Great Lakes Region.

"We certainly didn't have a very good race at Notre Dame," John McNichols, Indiana State men's cross country coach, said. "The trouble with high caliber meets like this one is that you tend to try and stay up with the lead pack right from the start which is not always the best strategy. We just were not able to finish the way we are capable of."

McNichols compared Notre Dame to the upcoming Pre-Nats in the number of high caliber teams in the competition and the results.

"If we finished 20th at Pre-Nats, we would be pretty pleased," McNichols said. "Even though the quality of the competition is almost as good as what we will see in two weeks, we still should have run smarter and finished stronger than what we did."

Wisconsin and Indiana remains the top two in the men's division of the Great Lakes Region with Michigan moving up two to third, Notre Dame remaining fourth, and Ohio State dropping two to fifth. Michigan State remained sixth in the ratings with Purdue and Butler each moving up a spot, Cincinnati leaping up four to ninth, and Eastern Michigan dropping three to 10th. Indiana State is followed by Kent State, Marquette, Toledo and Akron in the ratings.

AROUND THE NATION (Men's Regional Rankings):

All but one of the top rated teams in each of the nine regions held onto their ratings after a busy weekend of collegiate cross country action with Colorado dropping a spot to second in the Mountain region. Brigham Young's big win at the Notre Dame Invitational lifted them up to first in the region with Northern Arizona remaining third. Arkansas leads the South Central with Texas A&M now second and Texas falling to third while Princeton remains on top of the Mid-Atlantic with Georgetown moving up to second and Villanova down to third. Iona leads the Northeast with Columbia jumping four spots to second and Syracuse dropping one to third while North Carolina State remains in control of the Southeast with North Carolina moving up three to second and Eastern Kentucky remains third. The top three in the Midwest, South, and West all remained the same with Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and Minnesota leading the Midwest, Florida state, Florida, and Georgia the South, and Stanford, Oregon, and Portland the West.

AROUND THE NATION (Women's Regional Rankings):

Five of the nine women's regions have new leaders including the Great Lakes where Michigan State leaped over Michigan for the top spot. Colorado moved over New Mexico to take the top spot in the Mountain with Brigham Young remaining third while Arkansas took over the South Central lead with Texas dropping to second and Rice moving up three spots to third. Villanova is the new top team in the Mid-Atlantic with Georgetown dropping to second and Penn State up one to third while North Carolina, Virginia, and Clemson each moved up a spot in the Southeast as Duke, last week's top team, dropped to fourth. Providence and Syracuse remain 1-2 in the Northeast with Yale leaping from 10 spots to third while Iowa State still leads the Midwest with Minnesota up one to second and Iowa up one to third. Florida State, Florida, and Vanderbilt remained the top three in the South while Stanford continues to lead the West with Oregon jumping from fourth to second and California dropping down one to third.