A group of Northern Michigan University’s runners stay in a tight pack in the collegiate part of the Wildcat Open cross country meet held on campus in Marquette on Aug. 22. This pack includes Marquette County runner Maija Maki-Warne of Marquette, front left, and Lola Korpi of Ishpeming, just to her right. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — They’re coming in out of the cold.

The women’s cross country team at Northern Michigan University entered the national NCAA Division II poll this week for the first time since October 2019.

The poll is conducted weekly during the fall season by the lengthy-sounding U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, which has just as unwieldy an acronym of USTFCCCA.

And the Wildcats didn’t just sneak in at the bottom of the top-30 rankings, but sit halfway up the rankings in 15th place after only having received votes outside of the top 30 the previous week.

It’s Northern’s highest position in the poll since 2016.

While most of the six-paragraph write-up about the poll was about top-10 teams, NMU also received mention: “Most notable might be the jump Northern Michigan made from receiving votes to No. 15. The Wildcats, led by Madi Szymanski in ninth place, clawed their way to a fourth-place finish at the Lucian Rosa Invitational.”

That high finish wasn’t just notable for its lofty placement, but for the fact that Northern finished ahead of five national top-30 teams at that meet — last week’s No. 12 Lee (Tennessee), No. 15 Colorado State-Pueblo, No. 24 Minnesota State-Mankato, No. 25 Wisconsin-Parkside (the Lucian Rosa meet host school) and No. 26 Cal Poly Pomona.

Each of those schools remains in the top 30, except Parkside, but all fell in the rankings and all are now behind the Wildcats.

The three schools that beat out NMU at Lucian Rosa are all in the top 10 in the new poll — No. 1 Colorado School of Mines, No. 4 Adams State and No. 8 Colorado-Colorado Springs.

Maybe just as important for NMU’s future is its now No. 5 ranking in the Midwest region — one position higher than last week — trailing only national No. 3 Grand Valley State, No. 6 Cedarville, No. 9 Lewis and No. 10 Walsh.

As the USTFCCCA noted, Szymanski led the Wildcats at the Lucian Rosa meet with her ninth-place finish that also netted her the GLIAC Cross Country Athlete of the Week award for the second straight week.

It was her third straight top-10 finish at a meet in September after taking fifth at both the Phoenix Open in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis.

Northern makes its longest road trip of the season when it ventures to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the Royals Challenge next Friday that is hosted by Queens University.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the national ranking. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.