Gopher XC: Good News and Bad News

There's good news and bad news today when it comes to University of Minnesota cross country.

Start with the good news, you say?

Mead Honored by Big Ten ... Gopher junior Hassan Mead was named the Big Ten Conference's Runner of the Week for his 5th-place performance in the White race at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana on Saturday.

The Minneapolis South alum clocked 23:50 over the 8000m course, which, in its 10,000m version, will host the NCAA Championships in November. He was the fastest runner from the conference at the competition.

The honor is Mead's fourth Runner of the Week award, one of which he earned earlier this season after his Griak Invitational victory.

Now for the bad news ...

Gophers Drop in Polls ... Both Golden Gopher teams took a hit in the NCAA Division I rankings after Pre-Nats.

The Gopher women fell seven places to #15 after their 6th-place finish in the White race at Pre-Nationals. The two-time defending Big Ten champions now find themselves looking up at Illinois, the top-ranked Big Ten and Midwest Regional team, currently ranked #13.

Penn State is ranked #18, Iowa State is ranked #19, Michigan is ranked #22, and Iowa is ranked #23, among conference and regional challengers.

Find the complete rankings HERE.

The news is a worse still for the Gopher men, who fell out of the national rankings of the top-30 teams in the country.

Pegged as the #30 team going into Pre-Nationals, the team's 11th-place finish at Pre-Nationals left them seven votes shy of the national cut-off -- their 20 points pegging them, essentially, at #31.

Big Ten rival Wisconsin are ranked #15; Indiana is ranked #18.

Perhaps of greatest concern to the team and coach Steve Plasencia is the squad's #5 ranking among Midwest Regional teams. The Gophers find themselves ranked behind #3 Oklahoma State, #20 Oklahoma, #23 Iowa State, and #29 Tulsa.

Two teams each from the nine NCAA D1 regionals automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. At-large teams are selected by committee to fill the remainder of the 31-team field.

Find the complete national rankings for men HERE.

The regional polls are HERE.