LA GRANDE, Ore. – After winning their first ever Cascade Collegiate Conference Cross Country Championship last year, the Northwest Christian women’s cross country team has been chosen to defend their title, earning the top spot in the preseason poll.
It was a unanimous decision by the head coaches as NCU earned all eight of the first place votes, totaling 64 points in the poll. NCU returns a number of runners including Alyssa Harmon, last year’s CCC Cross Country Runner of the Year.
Coming in second in the poll is Oregon Tech who tallied 52 points overall. Last season, the Owls finished in third place in the CCC Championships behind NCU and Southern Oregon.
College of Idaho, who last year had its steak of five straight CCC titles come to an end, landed in the third spot in the preseason poll with 49 points. With two-runners making the All-CCC list last year, the Yotes saw a fourth-place finish in the Championship with 90 points.
Southern Oregon (42) is predicted to fall a bit from last season coming in at fourth in the poll after a second-place finish in last year’s meet.
Finishing out the preseason rankings are Eastern Oregon (26), Northwest (25), Corban (22) and Warne Pacific (8).
Note: Multnomah University as a new NAIA member is not eligible to compete in the 2015 NAIA or CCC Cross Country Championships. The CCC does not have a regular season in Cross County and as a result MU is not ranked in the preseason poll.
2015 CCC Women’s Cross Country Coaches' Preseason Poll
|
|
Team |
Points |
|
1. |
Northwest Christian (8) |
64 |
|
2. |
Oregon Tech |
52 |
|
3. |
College of Idaho |
49 |
|
4. |
Southern Oregon |
42 |
|
5. |
Eastern Oregon |
26 |
|
6. |
Northwest |
25 |
|
7. |
Corban |
22 |
|
8. |
Warner Pacific |
8 |