UPDATE: BYU's pre-season ranking has been changed to No. 18 due to a last minute NCAA transfer.

Follow our 2018 FloXC Countdown, where FloTrack ranks the top 25 cross country teams and individuals in the NCAA this season which will be LIVE on FloTrack. And, be sure to watch our LIVE FloXC Podium Reveal Show Tuesday, September 11th at 10 AM CT. The No. 18 women's spot goes to BYU, and here's why:

Probable Top Five:

JR Erica Birk-Jarvis (9:23 3K; 9:58 3K SC; 17:05 5K; 34th at ’16 NCAA XC)

JR Courtney Wayment-Smith (9:12 3K; 10:04 3K SC; 71st at ’17 NCAA XC)

JR Olivia Hoj (9:20 3K; 10:05 3K SC; 16:17 5K; 124th at ’17 NCAA XC)

SO Whittni Orton (4:14 1500; 115th at ’17 NCAA XC)

SO Sophie Baird (44th at ’16 Pac-12 XC)

Impact Freshmen/Transfers:

Sophie Baird via Colorado (44th at ’16 Pac-12 XC)

Sadie Sargent via Coalville, UT (10:32 3200; 7th at ’17 NXN)

Sophie Lasswell via Conroe, TX (10:24 3200)

Analysis:

The BYU women return four women from last year’s 11th-place team in the NCAA, including No. 1 Courtney Wayment-Smith (71st in 2016). The key cog for the Cougar’s success will likely hinge on the return of Erica Birk-Jarvis, who earned All-American honors with a 34th-place finish in 2016 but redshirted last fall to give birth. She last raced in the spring of 2017, when she set her 3K steeplechase PB at 9:58.22.

Birk-Jarvis and Wayment-Smith will have solid back-up from Whittni Orton and Olivia Hoj, who ran 5-6 for the Cougars last year in 115th and 124th places, respectively. That race was, remarkably, Orton’s first collegiate cross country competition due to chronic injury. The multi-sport prep star boasts a ton of speed when healthy, as evidenced by her seventh place finish at the 2018 NCAA indoor mile final and 4:14.41 1500m PB.

New faces capable of making an immediate impact include Sophie Baird, who joins the Cougars after stints at Colorado and UCLA, and true freshman Sadie Sargent, the No. 20 ranked FloTrack recruit in the Class of 2018. Sargent placed seventh at the 2017 Nike Cross Nationals.

FULL RANKINGS HERE