Big South Announces 2017 Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Defending Big South women’s cross country champion Liberty University has been voted the favorite in the conference’s annual preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, the conference office announced Thursday.
The Lady Flames, led by returning All-Conference performers Anna Van Wyk and Kammi Kurtz, collected eight first-place votes and 97 points in the voting to win its second consecutive Big South title. High Point received the remaining two first-place votes and 89 points to finish second in the poll, while Campbell was third with 83 points -- its highest finish in the preseason poll since re-joining the Big South in 2011.
Winthrop finished fourth in the voting with 65 points, just ahead of UNC Asheville, which finished fifth with 61 points. Radford claimed sixth place with 52 points, followed by Charleston Southern and Gardner-Webb in seventh with 30 points each. Presbyterian College landed in ninth (26 points) and Longwood rounded out the poll in 10th with 17 points.
The women’s cross country season begins Friday, Sept. 1. The 2017 Big South Women’s Cross Country Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting is slated for Saturday, Oct. 28, in Lynchburg, Va., and will be hosted by Liberty University.
2017 Big South Women’s Cross Country Preseason Poll
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - Liberty (8) |
97 |
| 2 - High Point (2) |
89 |
| 3 - Campbell |
83 |
| 4 - Winthrop |
65 |
| 5 - UNC Asheville |
61 |
| 6 - Radford |
52 |
| T7 - Charleston Southern |
30 |
| T7 - Gardner-Webb |
30 |
| 9 - Presbyterian College |
26 |
| 10 - Longwood |
17 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 10 points, followed by 9 points for second-place, and so on.