OGDEN, Utah (August 21, 2017) - After claiming the Big Sky Cross Country titles in 2016, Northern Arizona is expected to be in a similar position for the upcoming season sitting atop of the preseason coaching polls for both men and women. Coaches were allowed to vote for their own team on their ballot.
Fresh off of their first NCAA Championship in school history, the NAU men are looking to build off of last year’s historical run and are the favorite to repeat tallying nine first-place votes in the preseason poll. Though the Lumberjacks lost both Futsum Zienasellassie and Nathan Weitz to graduation, there is still plenty of talent returning to be excited about. Matt Baxter enters his final season as the top returnee on the team. The senior placed second in the Big Sky Championship (24:14) and NCAA Mountain Regional (31:19.7) before placing 11th (30:03.1) in the NCAA National Championship meet. NAU also brings back Tyler Day, Cory Glines and Andy Trouard who all placed top-five in the Big Sky Championships last fall to help NAU score a perfect score of 15 points.
Even though there are a lot of familiar faces on the NAU squad, the person at the head of the program is new. Mike Smith replaced Eric Heins as the Director of Cross Country and Track & Field and will look to continue the successful run that the school has had.
The NAU women totaled 141 points to finish first in the preseason poll and will look to defend their title in the upcoming season. After edging Weber State to win the 2016 Big Sky Championship, the Lumberjacks return two All-Conference honorees in Kylie Goo and Mikayla Malaspina. Goo placed sixth with a time of 17:54 while Malaspina finished eighth crossing the finish line in 17:58 in the conference championship meet. Additionally, veterans Emily Roughan, Paige Gilchrist and Miranda Myers all return for Northern Arizona in 2017.
The Weber State and Montana women finished second and third in the voting with 122 and 113 points with each school receiving a first-place vote. Weber State will look to reclaim their title as “Big Sky Champions” that they earned in 2015 with junior, Candace Sharp heading the list of returnees for the Wildcats. Sharp finished in 13th place in the conference meet a year ago with a time of 18:08 in the 5K. Montana will have three runners for the upcoming season that placed in the top-25 at the Big Sky meet a year ago in Emily Pittis, Jessica Bailey and Reagan Colyer.
Southern Utah and Idaho each went over the century mark in the women’s poll with the Thunderbirds notching 111 points to finish in third place and the Vandals with 106 points for fourth. Ashley Tyndall and Emma Amundsen headline Southern Utah’s lineup as both were strong runners for the team in 2016. Idaho returns several runners from last year’s squad including All-Conference member Kara Story. Story also earned Freshman of the Year for her ninth place finish in the conference meet.
Eastern Washington (77) finished sixth in the vote, Montana State (75) came in seventh while Idaho State (51) was eighth in the ranking. Though EWU graduated Sarah Reiter, the Eagles will rely on a young core including two sophomores in Kaili Keefe and Carli Corpus for the season. Montana State lost several members of their 2016 lineup, and will lean on talented underclassman to guide the team. Meanwhile, Idaho State’s lineup features Jenica Dodge who garnered All-Conference recognition last season with her ninth place finish at the Big Sky Championship.
On the men’s side, Southern Utah finished a close second in the poll with 135 points including three first place votes. SUU brings back their entire lineup from the 2016 team that finished second in the conference as well as Mike Tate who redshirted last year after finishing second in the Big Sky Championship in 2015. The Thunderbirds have all three of their Big Sky All-Conference members returning in Matt Wright (seventh place), Josh Collins (eighth place) and Aidan Reed (10th place). In addition, three-time Athlete of the Week in 2016 Kasey Knevelbaard will be a strong presence in SUU’s lineup.
Weber State is predicted to finish third bolstering a lineup that includes several key parts from last year’s team. Jordan Cross and Dallin Leatham were the top performing Wildcats at the Big Sky Conference Championship, and both are back. Cross finished in 13th place with a time of 25:07 while Leatham was just two seconds behind at 25:09 to place 15th.
Coming in fourth place in the men’s poll, Idaho returns two runners that finished top-25 in the conference meet a year ago. Sophomore, Grayson Ollar’s and senior, Tim Delcourt’s strong performances helped Idaho earn fourth place in last year’s meet.
Montana State was voted fifth with 91 points, Idaho State was slotted in the sixth spot with 79 points while Eastern Washington finished close behind in the ranking at the seventh position with 74 points.
The season will begin on Friday, September 1 with five schools set to run. The 2017 Big Sky Championship will be held on Saturday, October 28 in Riverdale, Utah at Riverside Golf Course. Weber State will be hosting the meet. The NCAA Regionals will be on November 10 with the NCAA Championship set to take place on November 18 in Louisville, Ky.
| Men's Preseason Poll |
|
| 1. Northern Arizona (9) |
141 |
| 2. Southern Utah (3) |
135 |
| 3. Weber State |
118 |
| 4. Idaho |
104 |
| 5. Montana State |
91 |
| 6. Idaho State |
79 |
| 7. Eastern Washington |
74 |
| 8. Sacramento State |
57 |
| 9. Montana |
53 |
| 10. Portland State |
48 |
| 11. North Dakota |
21 |
| 12. Northern Colorado |
15 |
|
|
| Women's Preseason Poll |
|
| 1. Northern Arizona (10) |
141 |
| 2. Weber State (1) |
122 |
| 3. Montana (1) |
113 |
| 4. Southern Utah |
111 |
| 5. Idaho |
106 |
| 6. Eastern Washington |
77 |
| 7. Montana State |
75 |
| 8. Idaho State |
51 |
| 9. Sacramento State |
46 |
| 10. Portland State |
45 |
| 11. Northern Colorado |
37 |
| 12. North Dakota |
12 |
(First-place votes in parentheses)