VIA: USTFCCCA.org

*Poll at bottom of page
NEW ORLEANS – Oklahoma State’s defending NCAA champion men and the Providence women have been voted by the coaches as the Division I preseason No. 1 teams in the National Coaches Poll, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Tuesday.

A position atop the men’s cross country world is nothing new for Oklahoma State, as the men’s team is the defending champion and has won three of the past four titles. But the Providence women — who came close to the NCAA team title a year ago with a runner-up finish — have not been ranked No. 1 since late in the 1996 season: the season following their 1995 title.

The women’s top five is completed by No. 2 Florida State, defending champion No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Duke and No. 5 Washington.

The Oregon women snapped a lengthy championship drought last season with their first team title since 1987 with a title over runner-up Providence. Could this be the year Providence, which won its last and only title in 1995, follows suit and does the same? The voting committee thinks so, as the Friars (359 points) collected 11 of the 12 first-place votes and are ranked No. 1 in the polls for the first time since attempting a title defense during the 1996 season.

The top three scorers from the Friars’ runners-up effort a year ago return in sophomore Sarah Collins, who finished 10th overall as a freshman last year; and seniors Emily Sisson (15th) and Laura Nagel (35th).

No. 2 Florida State (343 points) has been knocking on the door of a national team title for the last six years, having finished fourth the past two seasons, runner-up in 2009 and 1010, and third in 2007 and 2008. The last time FSU started the season at No. 2 — in 2010 — that is exactly where they finished at NCAAs. In order to live up to lofty preseason expectations and to break through and win the program’s first title, the FSU women will have to fill a void left from the departure of four of its scorers from last year’s team — only junior Colleen Quigley (12th) remains.

Like Florida State, defending champion Oregon lost many of its scorers from last year — its top three scorers, to be precise — but the Ducks enter the season at No. 3 in the country.  Junior transfer Lindsay Crevoiserat, who finished 42nd overall last year while at Connecticut, will join returning Ducks Allie Woodward (44th) and Annie Leblanc (68th) in the title defense effort.

Ranked No. 4 — the highest preseason rank in program history — expectations are high for Duke, which will rely on the experience its top three returning scorers to build on a 2012 season that saw the Blue Devils record a seventh-place finish — the program’s best since a third-place showing in 2005. Just a freshman when she finished 20th last year, Kelsey Lakowske is the squad’s top returner along with senior Juliet Bottoff (27th) and Carolyn Baskir (81st).

No. 5 Washington likewise improves from its ninth-place showing at NCAAs in 2012 behind the return of four returning scorers from last year — all of whom are seniors who experienced the Huskies’ narrow runners-up finish to Georgetown at the 2011 NCAA Championships. A strong crew featuring Megan Goethals (48th), Katie Flood (t89th), Justine Johnson (t89th) and Liberty Miller (152nd) will get one final shot at bringing the program its first title since 2008.

No. 6 Georgetown, the 2011 champ, will look to bounce back after a 12th-place showing a year ago, while No. 7 Arizona and No. 8 Stanford each return three from their 2012 sixth- and third-place results, respectively.

The coaches are expecting marked improvement from No. 9 Arkansas after finishing 18th a year ago, while No. 10 Cornell rounds out the top 10.

Unlike the men’s poll, no single region dominates the top five positions of the women’s poll, as the first five teams hail from four different regions. However, with four teams in the top eight, the West Region (No. 3 Oregon, No. 5 Washington, No. 7 Arizona and No. 8 Stanford) will be exceptionally difficult in 2013, as will the Pac-12.

No. 14 Colorado also makes the list to give the Pac-12 a total of five teams on the list, tied with the ACC for the most of any conference. The Big Ten, Big East and Big 12 are each represented by four squads.

2013 Preseason — August 27
next poll: September 17
Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	Cross Country Coach (Yr*)	2012 FINAL
1	Providence (11)	359	Northeast	Big East	Ray Treacy (30th)	2
2	Florida State	343	South	ACC	Karen Harvey (7th)	4
3	Oregon (1)	334	West	Pac-12	Robert Johnson (2nd)	1
4	Duke	321	Southeast	ACC	Kevin Jermyn (10th)	7
5	Washington	317	West	Pac-12	Greg Metcalf (12th)	9
6	Georgetown	283	Mid-Atlantic	Big East	Michael Smith (2nd)	12
7	Arizona	278	West	Pac-12	James Li (12th)	6
8	Stanford	276	West	Pac-12	Chris Miltenberg (2nd)	3
9	Arkansas	238	South Central	SEC	Lance Harter (24th)	18
10	Cornell	234	Northeast	Ivy	Artie Smith (15th)	13
11	Penn State	223	Mid-Atlantic	Big Ten	Beth Alford-Sullivan (15th)	14
12	Villanova	221	Mid-Atlantic	Big East	Gina Procaccio (14th)	20
13	Michigan State	219	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Walt Drenth (10th)	16
14	Colorado	196	Mountain	Pac-12	Mark Wetmore (19th)	24
15	New Mexico	195	Mountain	Mountain West	Joe Franklin (7th)	10
16	William and Mary	188	Southeast	Colonial	Jill Miller (2nd)	21
17	Michigan	184	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Mike McGuire (22nd)	5
18	Notre Dame	143	Great Lakes	ACC	Tim Connelly (26th)	15
19	Minnesota	129	Midwest	Big Ten	Sarah Hopkins (1st)	22
20	Vanderbilt	123	South	SEC	Steve Keith (8th)	27
21	Oklahoma State	112	Midwest	Big 12	Dave Smith (5th)	26
22	NC State	109	Southeast	ACC	Laurie Henes (8th)	NR
23	San Francisco	95	West	West Coast	Helen Lehman-Winters (11th)	NR
24	Weber State	69	Mountain	Big Sky	Paul Pilkington (7th)	17
25	Boston College	68	Northeast	ACC	Randy Thomas (22nd)	19
26	Iowa State	56	Midwest	Big 12	Andrea Grove-McDonough (1st)	11
27	Texas	54	South Central	Big 12	Mario Sategna (1st)	25
28	Princeton	48	Mid-Atlantic	Ivy	Peter Farrell (36th)	NR
29	West Virginia	47	Mid-Atlantic	Big 12	Sean Cleary (7th)	NR
30	Butler	23	Great Lakes	Big East	Matt Roe (7th)	29
Others Receiving Votes: Georgia 21, Connecticut 19, North Carolina 14, UC Davis 13, Harvard 11, Toledo 7, Florida 4, Syracuse 3, Northern Arizona 2, Texas A&M 1