Find Out Which 31 Men’s Teams Are Going to the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships
By LetsRun.com
November 11, 2022
All nine NCAA cross country regional meets are in the books, which means we can now project which 31 men’s teams will compete at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships on November 19 in Stillwater, Okla.
After inputting the results into Bo Waggoner‘s computer program on xcquals.com, here are the 31 teams who will be dancing this year:
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- Wisconsin
- Notre Dame
- Villanova
- Georgetown
- Tulsa
- Oklahoma State
- Northern Arizona
- BYU
- Syracuse
- Harvard
- Tennessee
- Ole Miss
- Arkansas
- Texas
- North Carolina
- Virginia
- Stanford
- Gonzaga
- Wake Forest
- Colorado
- Air Force
- NC State
- Princeton
- Alabama
- Washington
- Oregon
- Michigan
- Montana State
- Colorado St.
- Utah State
- Butler
First team out: Duke
Note: This is an UNOFFICIAL LIST. Humans do make mistakes.
A number of the spots in our projections — including the final spot between Butler and Duke — came down to a common opponents tiebreaker. Those tiebreakers can be tricky because it requires analyzing every one of a team’s opponents through the course of a season and making sure there are no B teams that would negate the result. The list above reflects our projection based on our current understanding of the season results, but if we calculated the common opponents tiebreaker incorrectly, the projection could change.
Ranked teams that failed to qualify: #24 Portland, #25 Cal Baptist, #27 Iowa State, #30 Charlotte
Unranked teams that qualified: Georgetown (#32 in votes), Ole Miss (#34 in votes), Utah State (#35 in votes), Butler (not receiving any votes)
A few thoughts:
- Virginia was not projected to qualify based on regional rankings and previous results, but the 19th ranked Cavaliers ran great in the Southeast Region to earn their spot, edging out ACC champs Wake Forest for the second auto spot. The other team that wasn’t supposed to get in based on regional rankings and previous results but did was Ole Miss who beat Alabama for the 2nd auto spot in their region. The two casualties of these moves – #24 Portland and #25 Cal Baptist – out West. Portland was only 7th in the region and was prevented from pushing CBU into the meet by Boise State.
- Montana State qualified for just the second time ever. Their only other appearance at NCAAs came in 2002.
- Portland had 10 points, easily the most of any team that didn’t qualify, but they were doomed by a 7th-place finish at the West Regional. Even if Portland had finished 6th, they would have qualified (and pushed 5th-place Cal Baptist into the meet with them). But the Pilots found themselves blocked by both Cal Baptist and Boise State, meaning they’ll miss NCAAs for the first time since 2015.
- Iowa State finished as the NCAA runners-up last year, but they finished second in a tough Midwest Regional and didn’t have enough points to advance. Like Portland, this will be the first time they failed to qualify for NCAAs since 2015.
Full logic:
Teams under consideration by points: 13 Air Force 12 Wake Forest 11 Colorado 6 NC State 5 Oregon 4 Washington, Princeton 3 Alabama 2 Iowa State, Providence, Michigan 1 Butler 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Florida State, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Portland (5), Utah State (4), Colorado St. (2), Duke (2), Montana State (1), Cal Poly (1), Michigan State (1), Boise State (1), Charlotte (1), Eastern Kentucky (1), CBU (1) Air Force not selected with push (gets in later on their own) 19: Wake Forest (#3 Southeast) is selected, has no losses to teams remaining Teams under consideration by points: 11 Colorado 6 NC State 5 Oregon 4 Washington, Princeton 3 Alabama 2 Iowa State, Providence, Duke, Michigan 1 Butler 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Florida State, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Air Force (13), Portland (5), Utah State (4), Colorado St. (2), Cal Poly (1), Michigan State (1), Boise State (1), Montana State (1), Charlotte (1), Eastern Kentucky (1), CBU (1) 20: Colorado (#3 Mountain) is selected, has losses to (Nuttycombe) Air Force; Teams under consideration by points: 14 Air Force 6 NC State 5 Oregon 4 Washington, Princeton 3 Alabama 2 Iowa State, Providence, Duke, Michigan 1 Montana State, Butler 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Florida State, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Portland (5), Utah State (4), Colorado St. (2), Cal Poly (1), Michigan State (1), Boise State (1), Charlotte (1), Eastern Kentucky (1), CBU (1) 21: Air Force (#4 Mountain) is selected, has no losses to teams remaining Teams under consideration by points: 6 NC State 5 Oregon 4 Washington, Princeton 3 Alabama 2 Iowa State, Providence, Colorado St., Duke, Michigan 1 Montana State, Butler 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Florida State, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Portland (5), Utah State (4), Cal Poly (1), Michigan State (1), Boise State (1), Charlotte (1), Eastern Kentucky (1), CBU (1) 22: NC State (#4 Southeast) is selected, has losses to (Joe Piane) Alabama, Montana State, Charlotte, Butler, Cal Poly, Michigan; Teams under consideration by points: 5 Oregon 4 Washington, Princeton, Alabama 3 Michigan 2 Iowa State, Providence, Montana State, Colorado St., Duke, Butler 1 Eastern Kentucky 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Florida State, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Portland (5), Utah State (4), Cal Poly (2), Charlotte (2), Michigan State (1), Boise State (1), CBU (1) Oregon not selected with push (gets in later on their own) Breaking ties between Washington, Princeton, Alabama using head-to-head Washington loses head-to-head vs Princeton, is not selected (Cowboy Jamboree) No head-to-head tiebreaker for Washington and Alabama No head-to-head tiebreaker for Princeton and Alabama Breaking ties between Princeton, Alabama using common opponents Alabama loses common opponents vs Princeton, is not selected (win percentages: 1.0, 0.8333333333333334) (common opponents: Ole Miss, Navy, Pittsburgh, Kentucky) 23: Princeton (#3 Mid-Atlantic) is selected, has no losses to teams remaining Teams under consideration by points: 4 Washington, Alabama 3 Michigan 2 Iowa State, Providence, Montana State, Colorado St., Duke, Butler 1 Eastern Kentucky 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Oregon (5), Portland (5), Utah State (4), Cal Poly (2), Charlotte (2), Michigan State (1), Boise State (1), CBU (1) Breaking ties between Washington, Alabama using head-to-head No head-to-head tiebreaker for Washington and Alabama Breaking ties between Washington, Alabama using common opponents Washington loses common opponents vs Alabama, is not selected (win percentages: 0.8181818181818182, 0.7777777777777778) (common opponents: Notre Dame, NC State, Florida State, Michigan, Ole Miss, Cal Poly, Kentucky, Boise State) 24: Alabama (#3 South) is selected, has no losses to teams remaining Teams under consideration by points: 4 Washington 3 Michigan 2 Iowa State, Providence, Montana State, Colorado St., Duke, Butler 1 Eastern Kentucky 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Auburn, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Oregon (5), Portland (5), Utah State (4), Cal Poly (2), Charlotte (2), Michigan State (1), Boise State (1), CBU (1) 25: Washington (#3 West) is selected, has losses to (Nuttycombe) Portland, Oregon; Teams under consideration by points: 6 Oregon 3 Michigan 2 Iowa State, Providence, Montana State, Colorado St., Duke, Butler 1 CBU, Eastern Kentucky 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Auburn, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Portland (6), Utah State (4), Cal Poly (2), Charlotte (2), Michigan State (1), Boise State (1) 26: Oregon (#4 West) is selected, has losses to (Nuttycombe) Portland; Teams under consideration by points: 3 Michigan 2 Iowa State, Providence, Montana State, Colorado St., Duke, Butler 1 CBU, Boise State, Eastern Kentucky 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Auburn, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Portland (7), Utah State (4), Cal Poly (2), Charlotte (2), Michigan State (1) 27: Michigan (#3 Great Lakes) is selected, has losses to (Nuttycombe) Portland, Utah State, Colorado St., Duke; (Joe Piane) Montana State, Charlotte, Butler, Cal Poly; Teams under consideration by points: 3 Montana State, Colorado St., Duke, Butler 2 Iowa State, Providence 1 CBU, Boise State, Eastern Kentucky, Michigan State 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Auburn, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Portland (8), Utah State (5), Cal Poly (3), Charlotte (3) Breaking ties between Montana State, Colorado St., Duke, Butler using head-to-head Colorado St. loses head-to-head vs Montana State, is not selected (Mountain) No head-to-head tiebreaker for Montana State and Duke Butler loses head-to-head vs Montana State, is not selected (Joe Piane, Weis-Crockett Invitational (Pre-Nationals)) Duke loses head-to-head vs Colorado St., is not selected (Nuttycombe) No head-to-head tiebreaker for Colorado St. and Butler No head-to-head tiebreaker for Duke and Butler 28: Montana State (#5 Mountain) is selected, has no losses to teams remaining Teams under consideration by points: 5 Utah State 3 Colorado St., Duke, Butler 2 Iowa State, Providence 1 CBU, Boise State, Eastern Kentucky, Michigan State 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Auburn, Cornell, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Portland (8), Cal Poly (3), Charlotte (3) Utah State not selected with push (gets in later on their own) Breaking ties between Colorado St., Duke, Butler using head-to-head Duke loses head-to-head vs Colorado St., is not selected (Nuttycombe) No head-to-head tiebreaker for Colorado St. and Butler No head-to-head tiebreaker for Duke and Butler Breaking ties between Colorado St., Butler using common opponents Butler loses common opponents vs Colorado St., is not selected (win percentages: 0.5238095238095238, 0.42105263157894735) (common opponents: Michigan State, Providence, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida State, Wyoming, Georgetown, CBU, Southern Utah, Villanova, Montana State, NC State, Indiana, Syracuse, Boise State) 29: Colorado St. (#6 Mountain) is selected, has losses to (Nuttycombe) Portland, Utah State; (Griak Invitational) CBU, Michigan State; Teams under consideration by points: 6 Utah State 3 Duke, Butler 2 Iowa State, CBU, Providence, Michigan State 1 Boise State, Eastern Kentucky 0 Loyola (Ill.), La Salle, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Auburn, Cornell, Wyoming, Texas A&M, Arkansas State Others with points: Portland (9), Cal Poly (3), Charlotte (3) 30: Utah State (#7 Mountain) is selected, has losses to (Nuttycombe) Portland; Teams under consideration by points: 3 Duke, Butler 2 Iowa State, CBU 0 La Salle, Florida State, Cornell, Wyoming, Texas A&M Others with points: Portland (10), Cal Poly (3), Charlotte (3), Michigan State (2), Providence (2), Boise State (1), Eastern Kentucky (1) Breaking ties between Duke, Butler using head-to-head No head-to-head tiebreaker for Duke and Butler Breaking ties between Duke, Butler using common opponents Common opponents are tied for Duke, Butler (win percentages: 0.5, 0.5) (common opponents: Michigan State, Eastern Kentucky, Wisconsin, Charlotte, Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida State, Georgetown, Liberty, Villanova, NC State, Providence, Indiana, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Boise State) Breaking ties between ['Duke', 'Butler'] using highest place at regionals. Broke tie by selecting Butler (highest regional finish). 31: Butler (#4 Great Lakes) is selected, has losses to (Weis-Crockett Invitational (Pre-Nationals)) CBU; (Big East Championships) Providence; (Joe Piane) Charlotte;