FARMINGTON, Utah (August 25, 2022) – The Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona have been unanimously selected as the Big Sky Conference men’s and women’s cross country favorites, the league office announced today.
NAU’s men’s squad enters the season as the defending NCAA National Champions, and winners of five of the previous six national titles. They are also the defending Big Sky Conference champions.
Northern Arizona returns a large percentage of their lineup from last season, and figure to be highly regarded when the national preseason poll releases next week.
Their national dominance spans back to 2016, when they claimed their first title in Terre Haute, Indiana under the direction of Eric Heins. Since then, there have been five more national championship races and the ‘Jacks have emerged victorious in four of them and finished as the national runner-up in the other.
The Lumberjack women’s squad is coming off a 23
rd place finish nationally last season and are also the defending league champions.
Led by Taryn O’Neill, who was the NCAA Mountain Region Individual Champion last season, the ‘Jacks are poised to continue to make noise nationally.
NAU is led by Michael Smith, who is entering his sixth season in charge of the Lumberjacks on the cross country circuit. Last season, he was named Big Sky Coach of the Year for men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s indoor track and men’s’ and women’s outdoor track. Smith was also honored with the title of National Coach of the Year for men’s cross country last season.
In the men’s rankings, the Bobcats of Montana State were tabbed second with 90 points, followed by Weber State with 77 points. Idaho and Portland State round out the preseason top-five on the men’s side respectively.
Moving down the women’s rankings, Idaho and Weber State tied for second in the preseason projections, followed by Montana State in fourth and Portland State in fifth.
The 2022 Big Sky Conference XC season will begin on Thursday, September 1 and the league championship will take place in Spokane, Washington on October 28.
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2022 Big Sky Men’s XC Poll Results
| Place |
Team |
Votes (1st Place) |
| 1st |
Northern Arizona |
100 (10) |
| 2nd |
Montana State |
90 |
| 3rd |
Weber State |
77 |
| 4th |
Idaho |
67 |
| 5th |
Portland State |
61 |
| 6th |
Eastern Washington |
47 |
| 7th |
Montana |
41 |
| 8th |
Idaho State |
35 |
| 9th |
Sacramento State |
21 |
| 10th |
Northern Colorado |
11 |
2022 Big Sky Women’s XC Poll Results
| Place |
Team |
Votes (1st Place) |
| 1st |
Northern Arizona |
100 (10) |
| T2nd |
Idaho |
81 |
| T2nd |
Weber State |
81 |
| 4th |
Montana State |
71 |
| 5th |
Portland State |
61 |
| 6th |
Idaho State |
48 |
| 7th |
Montana |
33 |
| 8th |
Sacramento State |
28 |
| 9th |
Eastern Washington |
27 |
| 10th |
Northern Colorado |
20 |