The USA South Athletic Conference's men's cross country coaches have released their 2019 preseason poll. Head coaches do not vote for their own teams in the balloting. Berea College (Ky.) will look to capture its third consecutive Conference title.
The USA South Cross Country Championship will be held in Rocky Mount, NC and hosted by N.C. Wesleyan College on Saturday, November 2. The men's 8,000-meter race is scheduled to begin at Noon while the women's 6,000-meter race is scheduled to begin at 11:00am.
The Bishop men, coached by Marshall Leonard, are coming off a 5th place finish in the 2018 conference tournament, their best finish in school history and look to improve on that this year as they return 4 of their top runners from a season ago while adding nine others.
The men were selected to finish 5th again by the coaches in the cross country preseason poll released Thursday. The men are second among Eastern teams behind rival Methodist who they will go to battle with this weekend in the opening meet of the season in Fayetteville at the Monarchs Classic.
2019 USA South Men's Cross Country Coaches Preseason Poll | ||
Rank | Institution (1st Place Votes) | Pts. |
1. | Berea^ (12) | 144 |
2. | Covenant (1) | 128 |
3. | Piedmont | 116 |
4. | Methodist | 114 |
5. | N.C. Wesleyan | 93 |
6. | Pfeiffer | 91 |
7. | Maryville | 89 |
8. | LaGrange | 55 |
t-9. | Averett | 50 |
t-9. | Brevard | 50 |
11. | William Peace | 33 |
12. | Mary Baldwin | 29 |
13. | Huntingdon | 22 |
^Defending Champion |