Follow our 2017 FloXC Countdown, where FloTrack ranks the top ten cross country teams and individuals in the NCAA this season which will be LIVE on FloTrack. The No. 7 women's spot goes to SUNY Geneseo, and here's why:

Probable Top Four:

JR Elise Ramirez (9:59 3K; 17:04 5K; 69th at '16 NCAA XC)
SR Kristen Homeyer (17:47 5K; 113th at '16 NCAA XC)
JR Allie Fernandez (18:22 5K)
SO Genny Corcoran

Impact Freshmen/Transfers:

Taylor Rettig via Monmouth (4:44 1500; 10:19 3K)
Chloe Weaver via Red Creek, NY (10:20 3K; 42nd at '16 NXN NY)
Carissa DiTullio via Lockport, NY (19:00 5K XC)

Analysis:

Geneseo loses three of its top five and five of its top seven from last year's third-place team; that graduating class led the Knights to three straight top-five finishes at nationals. But losing them isn't all bad. As third-year head coach Dan Moore says, "The light has been shining on that group that graduated for two or three years. The new runners have to move into the light, they have to go for it . . . [and] they seem to be responding. They want to be in the spotlight; we've had a lot of individuals reinvent themselves."

Prime candidates for reinvention include junior Elise Ramirez and senior Kristen Homeyer. After finishing 71st and 110th, respectively, at nationals two years ago, the duo finished in nearly exactly the same two places last year: 69th and 113th. (Setting everything else aside, that's just hard to do when roughly two runners are finishing every second at nationals.) But Ramirez had a huge track season, running 17:04 and qualifying for indoor and outdoor nationals in the 5K. She's a potential All-American. And Homeyer is part of a group that Moore says has stepped up its training.

But it'll take more than two studs for a third-straight podium or a fourth-straight top-five. Moore is counting on returners Allie Fernandez and Genny Corcoran as scorers, and he's recruited well. Sophomore Taylor Rettig, a transfer from Division I Monmouth, was a 4:44 1500 meter runner in high school. And freshman Chloe Weaver has respectable high school marks (seventh in her class at the New York state cross country meet), but her truly eye-opening performance came at this summer's Boilermaker 15K, where she ran 58:37 on a hilly course. That indicates that she's capable of running close to 22:00 for 6K; if she's Geneseo's fourth or fifth woman, then this team has hardly lost any depth and is true a podium threat.

FULL WOMEN'S RANKINGS HERE