High Point Voted 2019 Women's Cross Country Preseason Favorite
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Two-time defending Big South women’s cross country champion High Point 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 Panthers received 10 of the 11 first-place votes and 120 total points to claim the top spot. HPU is led by two-time defending Big South Champion Famke Heinst, who will attempt to become the Big South’s first three-time winner since 2010-12. She is joined by multiple All-Conference performers Zoe Geis (2016-17-18) and Julia Hellman (2017-18), plus 2018 honorees Lindsey Ickes and Franzi Jakobs. Campbell received the reamining first-place vote and 111 points to finish second in the poll, while Charleston Southern was third with 98 points.
UNC Asheville finished fourth in the voting with 83 points, ahead of Radford, which placed fifth in the poll with 73 points. USC Upstate claimed sixth-place with 55 points, followed by Winthrop in seventh with 52 points and Presbyterian College in the eighth position (38 points). Hampton landed in ninth (37 points), followed by Longwood (10th, 34 points) and Gardner-Webb (11th, 26 points).
The women’s cross country season begins Friday, Aug. 30. The 2019 Big South Women’s Cross Country Championship is slated for Saturday, Nov. 2, in Buies Creek, N.C., and will be hosted by Campbell University.
2019 BIG SOUTH PRESEASON WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (10) |
120 |
| 2 - Campbell (1) |
111 |
| 3 - Charleston Southern |
98 |
| 4 - UNC Asheville |
83 |
| 5 - Radford |
73 |
| 6 - USC Upstate |
55 |
| 7 - Winthrop |
52 |
| 8 - Presbyterian College |
38 |
| 9 - Hampton |
37 |
| 10 - Longwood |
34 |
| 11 - Gardner-Webb |
26 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 11 points, followed by 10 points for second-place, and so on.