Northville's girls cross country team remains No. 2 in Michigan in the coaches' second poll of the 2026 season. The boys hold steady at No. 8.

The Michigan Cross Country Coaches released the LP Division 1 rankings Monday, Sept. 21, as reported on Freep.com by Holland Sentinel sports editor Dan D'Addona. Both Mustangs squads sit in the same spots they occupied in the first poll released Sept. 15. The poll ranks teams by projected finish at the MHSAA Finals.

Ann Arbor Pioneer, which won the Division 1 girls state title in November 2025, sits alone at No. 1 on the girls side. Portage Central climbed from No. 5 to No. 3 in the second poll, while Hudsonville and Ann Arbor Skyline round out the top five. Rockford, ranked third a week earlier, dropped to No. 6. Northville competes in Region 7.

On the boys side, Traverse City West jumped from No. 2 to No. 1, displacing Lowell, which fell from the top spot to No. 4. Brighton moved up to No. 2, and Jenison sits third. Northville stayed put at No. 8.

The boys ranking carries weight given the program's recent run. Head coach Tim Dalton's squad won its fourth consecutive MHSAA Division 1 state championship on Nov. 1, 2025, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Northville edged Ann Arbor Pioneer 125-134, becoming the first team to win four straight Division 1 titles since Kalamazoo Central won four in a row in the open division and Class A from 1925-28, according to the MHSAA.

Then-junior Brandon Cloud led the Mustangs with a school-record 14 minutes, 52.80 seconds, finishing second individually behind Pioneer's Kamari Ronfeldt. Ben Hartigan placed eighth and Ryan Stojov finished 10th, according to the MHSAA.

Hartigan, then a senior, described the program's mindset after that November 2025 victory to Social House News.

"There's definitely a pressure there to keep the state-championship streak going," Hartigan said. "I think we're pretty good at internalizing the pressure and using it as motivation to stay No. 1."

Hartigan graduated. Cloud was a junior at the 2025 state meet.

The postseason path is set. According to the MHSAA calendar, LP cross country districts are scheduled for Friday, Oct. 9, regionals for Oct. 30 or 31, and the Division 1 finals for Saturday, Nov. 7.