GREENWOOD, Ind. – Gunning for its fourth consecutive league crown, Cedarville was again at the top of a new 2016 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour on Thursday.
The Yellow Jackets were a unanimous favorite by the league’s eight coaches and garnered all possible seven first-place votes for 49 points.
Cedarville’s women took care of business at last year’s conference meet in the rolling hills of West Virginia at Davis & Elkins. The Yellow Jackets had three runners on the all-conference first team, including now-graduated seniors Kathryn Sill and Kristen Laaman.
The Yellow Jackets have been the preseason favorite in the G-MAC for the past two years since the coaches’ polls were introduced and are anchored by NCAA DII track and field champion/U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier Carsyn Koch.
Koch was a two-time G-MAC Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week during the fall but was idle during the conference meet.
First-year conference member Malone finished with 43 points with one first-place vote in the Pioneers’ inaugural preseason poll for a runner-up projected finish.
The Pioneers will serve as host for this year’s G-MAC Cross Country Championships in Canton, Ohio.
Two-time G-MAC Runner of the Year Caroline Hampton of Trevecca Nazarene leads the Trojans after getting picked third with 37 points. The junior was an NCAA Championships qualifier and earned USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region honors.
Another 2015 award winner, G-MAC Freshman of the Year recipient Taylor Treadway, leads Alderson Broaddus after the Battlers gained 30 points for preseason fourth.
Ohio Valley was tabbed fifth, Kentucky Wesleyan sixth, Davis & Elkins seventh and Ursuline eighth, to round out the final four slots of the preseason coaches poll.
The G-MAC will be publishing a comprehensive season preview of women’s cross country on Thursday, Sept. 1. Interviews with the league’s coaches and select student-athletes will be available.
2016 G-MAC Women's Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour
| School |
Points |
| 1. Cedarville (7 first-place votes) |
49 |
| 2. Malone (1 first-place vote) |
43 |
| 3. Trevecca Nazarene |
37 |
| 4. Alderson Broaddus |
30 |
| 5. Ohio Valley |
24 |
| 6. Kentucky Wesleyan |
17 |
| 7. Davis & Elkins |
16 |
| 8. Ursuline |
8 |