FloAwards Preseason Rankings

Sep 17, 2008 by FloTrack Staff

Welcome to the 2008 FloAwards Preseason Rankings Page brought to you by the Flotrack NCAA XC panel. We say preseason because teams cannot start paving their way to the NCAA Championships until the weekend of September 27th when points can start being accumulated (more on this in the coming weeks).

Every week Flotrack will come out with top 3 rankings for teams, individuals, and Flotrack freshman of the year. From this point forward, votes will come from the Flotrack NCAA XC panel and YOU, the community!

So comment below to give us your votes for each category every week.

MEN Individual	WOMEN Individual
1 Galen Rupp	1 Sally Kipyego
Oregon Led Ducks to team title in '07, finishing 2nd overall to graduated, Josh McDougal. Enters '08 as the favorite for title on a loaded Duck squad.	Texas Tech Took the '07 title by a whopping 17 seconds, her second in a row. '08 Women's XC Theme, "Can Anyone Stop Sally?".
2 Shadrack Songok	2 Jenny Barringer
Texas A&M Finished 7th in '07 and becomes the top returner after Rupp for '08. NCAA South Regional Champ and All-American returns for his Senior season.	Colorado Coming off a busy summer that included the Olympics, Barringer has yet to officially announce if she will run cross. Finished 2nd in '07.
3 Sam Chelanga	3 Lisa Koll
Liberty Redshirted 2007, but finished 16th in '06 as a Freshman. Had a strong outdoor season w/ marks of 13:24/28:15. Top Soph. in the country.	Iowa State Koll may have finished 18th at '07 Nationals, but she is building off a fantastic Spring '08 Outdoor 10k campaign.
Sleeper David Kinsella	Sleeper Nicole Blood
Portland Looking to return healthy from an injury that held him out of outdoors in '08, Kinsella's 8th place finish in '07 will lead Pilots. Ran 25:06 8k on 9/12.	Oregon Returning for her Junior year after finishing 8th in '07, Blood should continue to pace the Ducks as she builds off her All-American Honors.
Honorable Mention: Ryan Vail (Oklahoma State), David McNeil (Northern Arizona), Josh Kosgei (Oklahoma State), Tyson David (Alabama)	Honorable Mention: Susan Kuijken (Florida State), Melissa Grelli (Oregon), Brie Felnagle (North Carolina), Angela Bizzarri (Illinois), Alex Kosinski (Oregon)
MEN TEAM	WOMEN TEAM
1 Oregon	1 Oregon
Ducks Looking to defend their title with the same top 7 that got them there in '07. Depth increases with additions of Luke Puskedra (Freshman) and Winter ('07 RS).	Ducks Building off 2nd place, the Ducks added transfers Grelli (10th), & Bridgemon (64th) to bolster a squad led by Blood (8th) & Kosinski (13th)
2 Oklahoma State	2 Florida State
Cowboys Finished 3rd in '07 and returns top 4 with additions of Kosgei, Lowe, and some kid named Fernandez. Anyone ever heard of him?	Seminoles Outdoor Track Coach of the Year Karen Harvey brings back 4 of her top 5 Lady Seminoles. Team finished 3rd in '07. Led by Susan Kuijken (3rd in '07/19:58)
3 Wisconsin	3 Arizona State
Badgers Returns all but the transferring Bethke (17th). Adds a new coach in Mick Bryne from cross country powerhouse, Iona.	Sun Devils Returning all 7 from a 4th place finish at Nationals in '07. Best young team in the nation added another threat with Kauren Tarver (Freshman).
Sleeper Alabama	Sleeper Illinois
Crimson Tide A 6th place finish in '07 was lead by now Senior Augustus Maiyo (30:13). Top 6 return for '08 and newcomer Tyson David helps solidify squad and shot at title.	Fighting Illini Angela Bizzarri lead Illinois to a 6th place finish in '07. Coach Rasmussen returns top 6 from a year ago with only one senior.
Honorable Mention: Stanford, Iona, Colorado, Virginia	Honorable Mention: Arkansas, Stanford, Colorado, West Virginia
FLOTRACK FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR	FLOTRACK FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
1 German Fernandez	1 Christine Babcock
Oklahoma State The most sought after athlete lands in Oklahoma State after the best H.S. double in US history (4:00/8:36). Broke 2-mile H.S. Record (8:34), 7th at Footlocker in '07.	Washington Top cross country runner in California in '07 becomes a Husky after breaking H.S. 1600m record (4:33). Will pay immediate dividends in Seattle this Fall.
2 Chris Derrick	2 Laurynne Chetelat
Stanford Ran one of the fastest High School 5k's ever at 13:55. Finished 2nd at Foot Locker in 2007. Gatorade National Boys XC Runner of the Year (2007-08)	Stanford The '07 Div. 1 CA cross country champion finished 2nd at the '07 Foot Locker West Region Chams... ran a PR time of 9:51.51 in the 3,200m in '08, 3rd best H.S. time.
3 Michael Fout	3 Carly Seymore
Florida State Foot Locker '07 National Cross Country Champ with PR of (14:50/5k). Other PR's include 1600m 4:12 and 3200m 8:55.	Duke Ran 10:31 in the 2 Mile in 2008. Mark was held since 1980 by Donna McClain. Finished 9th at Foot Locker in '06 and '07.
Sleeper Chad Hall	Sleeper Emily Infeld
UC Riverside Does he belong here? Maybe not. But he's a redshirt with some experience (left Oregon) and we are excited to see what he can do. '06 Footlocker champ.	Georgetown Finished 13th at Foot Locker in 2007. Nike Outdoor Champ in the mile (4:43) joins her sister, Maggie, as a Hoya this Fall.
Honorable Mention: Colby Lowe (Oklahoma State), Luke Puskedra (Oregon), Kyle Merber (Columbia), Ben Johnson (Stanford), Sean Keveren (Virginia)	Honorable Mention: Kauren Tarver (Arizona State), Kathleen Mccafferty (Georgetown), Kristie Kruger (Georgia), Mary Kate Champagne (Providence), Aurora Scott (Scott University)
	(Note: Neely Spence was rated as the 2nd Frosh until we remembered she is running in D2 at Shippensburg University.) (* Claire Durkin also received votes, but she announced after her outdoor season that she was not running XC for Stanford during her freshman year.)