By Tyler Mayforth, USTFCCCA    September 29, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – Hold on to your hats, folks.

If the first week of countable meets in NCAA Division I Cross Country and the ensuing National Coaches’ Poll is any indication, we’re in for a treat this season.

National PDFs: Top 30 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All Time
Regional Rankings: Summary | Recap
More: Men’s National Coaches’ Poll

There were some major changes in the women’s poll released Tuesday afternoon by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

NCAA DIVISION I NATIONAL COACHES POLL TOP 5 – WOMEN 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) New Mexico Colorado Providence Stanford Oregon View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

Let’s get this out of the way first:New Mexico is still No. 1 by a large margin. The Lobos hauled in all 12 first-place votes and are the unanimous team to beat (on paper).

Everything changed behind New Mexico in the top-10. Only No. 10 Arkansas remained in the same spot from last week’s ballot.

The winners of this past weekend’s biggest meets – the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown and the Roy Griak Invitational – rocketed up the poll.

Providence, a team that was No. 8 last week is the new No. 3 after posting a dominant win at Franklin Park in the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown. The Friars placed three runners in the top-10, led by Catarina Rocha (third, 16:53.9) and Sarah Collins (fourth, 16:55.6). To put this into context, Providence scored one-third the amount of points that new-No. 16 Syracuse did (42-127). Georgetown finished a disappointing third and while it should be noted that the Hoyas raced without several of their projected top runners, they fell five spots in the poll from No. 4 to No. 9.

Now raise your hand if you expected Boise State to win the Roy Griak Invitational. OK, even if you thought that, you probably didn’t think the Broncos would win so convincingly. Boise State, led by freshmen Allie Ostrander and Annie Bothma, put four of its runners in the top-10 – and its fifth runner was only 16th. The Broncos scored the fourth fewest points in Griak Invitational history and jumped from 20th to 7th in the poll.

While Boise State and Providence trended upward, former No. 1 Iowa State and reigning national championMichigan State are headed in the other direction.

After news broke last week that two-time All-American Crystal Nelson would redshirt, many felt the Cyclones would be docked a few spots. Iowa State dropped four places this week from No. 2 to No. 6 and its “B” squad finished 19th at the Griak Invitational.

The Spartans have their own injury concerns as they raced without Lindsay Clark and Katie Landwehr in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Juniors Rachele Schulist and Alexis Wiersma ran admirably, but Michigan State was a distant second to the Broncos. After falling from third to sixth last week, the Spartans tumbled to 12th this week.

There was one new addition to the National Coaches’ Poll as Alabama comes in at No. 29 after receiving votes last week. This is the Crimson Tide’s first appearance in the poll since 1995 when it was ranked No. 19 in Week 3.

This weekend could be another volatile one as there are four meets to watch – the Notre Dame Invitational, the Washington Invitational, the Princeton Inter-Regional Invitational and the Greater Louisville Classic.

Six top-30 teams headline the field at Louisville, including No. 6 Iowa State, No. 8 Michigan, No. 11Wisconsin and No. 13 West Virginia.

Notre Dame will give us our first glimpse of the new-look No. 1 Lobos, up against five more teams ranked or receiving votes this week.

Washington features a battle between No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 Oregon as part of a field with four top-30 teams, while Princeton will feature No. 18 William & Mary, No. 21 North Carolina and No. 28 Princeton.

Fans can follow along with all those meets and more live on the USTFCCCA National Results Wall.

All of these meets, however, won’t hold a candle to what could happen Nov. 21 in Louisville, Kentucky at theNCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.