The AU women’s cross country team moved up one spot to No. 23 in the final Division II national ranking of the 2015 regular season before Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference meet and regionals coming up on Oct. 24.

The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association released the rankings on Wednesday.

“I knew coming in that they were going to be strong,” said head coach Tom Scott. “We returned four out of our top five from last year. I knew if we kept everyone healthy and everyone did what they needed to do over the summer, it was going to happen.”

Last week, the Eagles were ranked No. 24 in the country, which marked the first time they have ranked in the Top 25 since the 2012 preseason poll when the ranked 16^th in the country.

“That team finished 18^th in the country the year before which was the last time they were ranked during the season,” said Scott.

In regional rankings, the women’s team remains in the seventh spot, one slot shy of the last of six automatic qualifying spots of the postseason.

Scott said that when it comes to his team automatically qualifying, it will come down to who is going to want it more.

The men dropped from their eighth spot regionally to ninth. Five men’s automatic qualifiers go on to the regional tournament.

“We lost four of our top five from last year and I told them coming in that the younger kids are going to need to step up,” said Scott. “They are all stepping up and that’s what we need. That’s what college athletics is all about; kids graduate, underclassmen have to step up.”

The men and women will look to compete at the GLIAC Conference Championship on Saturday at Wayne State University. The Midwest Regional meet is schedule for Nov. 7 in Evansville, Indiana.

“Our whole season is based on regionals,” said Scott. “That’s where we are going to try to run our best, is at the Regional Championship. We are going to use the GLIAC Championships as a good warm-up for that.”

The coaching staff says that now, the hardest part is going to be getting both squads ready for regionals and then for the NCAA Championship.

“All of the schools ahead of us are in the GLVC and we haven’t had the opportunity to race any of them yet,” said assistant coach Jeremy Wilk. “So it’s going to come down to being tough and confident. We haven’t had the opportunity to race on the fast courses they have, so when we do get to race against them, the team will need to believe in themselves, believe in the training and fight.”

The NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships will be held on Nov. 21 in Joplin, Missouri.

“Our girls are so excited, I can’t wait,” said Scott. “Joplin. They just keep talking about Joplin, Joplin, Joplin and hopefully we get there.”