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LCSC men's cross country team reaches new heights
The Lewis-Clark State College men’s cross country team reached new heights, while the women’s team fell one spot in the first regular season NAIA Top 25 polls, which were released on Wednesday.
The Warrior men are ranked No. 7, a program best and also ties the highest ranking by a Warrior women’s team, which was ranked No. 7 in 2001. The LCSC men were ranked No. 9 in the preseason poll.
“I’m pretty surprised in our men’s rating in the first regular season poll,” LCSC coach Mike Collins says. “I felt that we were pretty fortunate in the preseason to be rated in the top 10, but to move up to No. 7 is a little surprising. I know that there are still some very good teams out there that haven’t run yet, so this could be very short-lived, but we will enjoy it for the time being.
“ Excitingly, the last time we had a team ranked that high during the regular season they went on to finish 9th at nationals in Kenosha the (2001 women), a course we are returning to this year.”
Meanwhile, the Warrior women fell one spot from their preseason ranking to No. 13.
“I’m not surprised at the drop,” Collins says. “In the preseason poll, there were two regions that weren’t even represented, so it was expected that there would be at least one or two teams from there in front of us once the first regular season poll came out. Women are looking good. We are nursing a lot of little injuries right now, but they have this weekend off before we head to Boise for the Bob Firman race. We will find out then where we stand as that race is the preview meet for the Cascade Conference championships this year as well as DII West regionals, so a lot of teams will be coming in to preview this race prior to their championship races. It also serves as a good recruiting weekend as one of the biggest high school races in the Northwest takes place after the college races are finished. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to see some future Warriors running.”
The men’s team will be in action on Saturday in the University of Washington Sundodger Invitational.
“This usually has 250-300 runners in each race with nationally ranked DII, DIII, NAIA and junior colleges,” Collins says. “If we are truly a top 10 team, we will know soon. We may not be the only potential top 10 team in the region. This past weekend Eastern Oregon and Albertsons ran, with both teams running faster than we did a year ago on the same course. I know we are a hungry team and chomping at the bit to run, so this weekend should be exciting.”
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