Rockets Soar Up National Rankings to No. 12

TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo women's cross country team received its highest national ranking ever with its No. 12 ranking in this week's USTFCCCA National Poll that was announced on Tuesday.

Defending national champion NC State is ranked first in the poll and is followed by BYU, West Virginia, Florida, and Northern Arizona.

The Rockets moved up eight spots in the rankings after their tremendous performance at last week's Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wis. UT registered a program-best sixth-place finish at the Nuttycombe event in a field that included 17 nationally ranked programs.

Freshman Purity Chepkirui placed fourth in the race with a time of 19:22.3 on the 6K course. Her fourth-place finish was Toledo's best individual showing ever at the event and helped the Rockets finish ahead of 11 Top 25 programs, including No. 5 Iowa State and No. 11 Stanford.

Toledo is ranked No. 2 in the Great Lakes Region with No. 7 Notre Dame the top-ranked school in the region.

USTFCCCA Division I Women's Cross Country
National Coaches Poll – Oct. 13, 2026 | Link
1. NC State (11) – 330 pts.
2. BYU – 318 pts.
3. West Virginia – 307 pts.
4. Florida – 295 pts.
5. Northern Arizona – 289 pts.
6. New Mexico – 270 pts.
7. Notre Dame – 261 pts.
8. Oklahoma State – 254 pts.
9. Colorado – 237 pts.
10. Alabama – 234 pts.
11. South Carolina – 215 pts.
12. Toledo – 206 pts.
13. Washington State – 197 pts.
14. Oregon – 193 pts.
15. Utah – 174 pts.
16. Virginia – 155 pts.
17. Missouri – 150 pts.
18. Iowa State – 148 pts.
19. North Carolina – 133 pts.
20. Stanford – 129 pts.
21. Northwestern – 115 pts.
22. Minnesota – 93 pts.
23. Clemson – 74 pts.
24. Penn State – 66 pts.
25. Princeton – 55 pts.
26. Arkansas – 52 pts.
27. Washington – 46 pts.
28. Providence – 35 pts.
29. Boston College – 34 pts.
30. Duke – 28 pts.

RECEIVING VOTES: Syracuse (11), Kentucky (6), Tennessee (2), Virginia Tech (2), SMU (1).

Players Mentioned

Purity Chepkirui

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