NEW ORLEANS— On the heels of a strong effort at Saturday's Lewis Crossover Invitational, the Colorado Mesa University Maverick women's cross country team surged 14 spots and are now ranked 14^th in Wednesday's edition of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's NCAA Division II Coaches' Poll.
 
The Mavericks' ranking is their highest in more than a decade after sitting 11^th in the 2015 preseason and Week No. 1 polls, which were before they raced that year.
 
CMU's 14 position jump from last week's No. 28 ranking in the rankings was also the largest of any team in the top 30 from last week's poll.  The jump came after the Mavericks defeated six nationally-ranked teams, including four ranked above them at Saturday's meet in Romeoville, Illinois, where the Mavericks took fourth in a field of 36 teams.
 
Chico State won the meet and moved up six spots to ninth while host Lewis slipped one spot to tenth after taking second.  Biola, which was receiving votes but not in last week's top 30, moved to 13^th after taking third.
 
The Mavs are the fifth of seven Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams in the poll, which has the Colorado School of Mines continuing to sit in the top spot.  Adams State is ranked fourth while Western Colorado and UCCS are seventh and eighth, respectively.
 
CSU Pueblo is now ranked 19^th, down two spots from a week ago, while Fort Lewis dropped to No. 26 after sitting 11^th last week.
 
The Maverick women also moved up two spots to sixth in the USTFCCCA's South Central Regional Rankings, which were released Tuesday. 
 
The Maverick men also moved back in to the regional rankings for the first time since the preseason edition and are ranked tenth, the same spot they were in the preseason.
 
CMU will next race at the RMAC Championships on Saturday, Oct. 25 at Monument Valley Park in Colorado Springs.