Defending Champion New Mexico Headlines NCAA DI Women’s Preseason Coaches’ Poll

NEW ORLEANS — Last year after his team rolled to a national title in one of the most dominant performances in history, New Mexico coach Joe Franklin cautioned anybody from using the word, “dynasty.” Franklin said teams must win multiple championships in a row for that to be the case and that each year — with more and more talent coming into the NCAA system — it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ascend the mountain again.

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Well, Franklin’s colleagues think he built something special in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For the first time since 2010, the previous season’s national champion is No. 1 in the NCAA Division I Women’s Cross Country Preseason National Coaches’ Poll. The Lady Lobos earned nine of the 12 available first-place votes in the poll, which was released Tuesday afternoon by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

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MEN’S PRESEASON NATIONAL POLL

Villanova was the last team to win a national title and be ranked No. 1. That came six years ago. Guess what the Wildcats ended up doing that season: They repeated as national champions.

New Mexico has its work cut out for itself if it wishes to join Villanova and four other teams among the ranks of back-to-back champs (BYU, Stanford, Virginia Wisconsin). The Lady Lobos only return three runners from last year’s team at NCAAs, but it’s a big three — Alice Wright (fifth overall), Rhona Auckland (13th overall) and Calli Thackery (15th overall).

The biggest threat to New Mexico’s second title in as many years, at least according to the voting coaches, is Colorado. The second-ranked Buffaloes nabbed one first-place vote and welcome back two key cogs to their runner-up NCAA from a year ago — Erin Clark (11th overall in 2015) and Kaitlyn Benner (16th overall).

A team that could be this year’s “trendy” pick to be national champion isn’t too far removed from its last national title: Providence. The Friars received two first-place votes from the coaches and return six of the seven runners they brought with them to Kentucky last year. Providence won its most recent national title in 2013.

Coming in at fourth in the poll is Oregon. The Ducks haven’t won a title in three years, so they’re hankering to get back on top. Oregon struggled to find depth at NCAAs last year as its top three runners finished 18-19-21, while 77-79 rounded out its scoring lineup. Alli Cash is the Ducks’ top returning runner (31st overall in 2015).

Rounding out the top-5 is North Carolina State, one of the youngest teams on the block from last year. The Wolf Pack finished fifth at NCAAs last year and welcome back the quartet of Erika Kemp (57th overall last year), Rachel Koon (59th), Megan Moye (94th) and Ryen Frazier (108th). Ryen Frazier’s sister, Wesley Frazier, comes off redshirt for NC State. This ties for the best preseason rank for the Wolf Pack since 2004.

The other usual suspects from the 2015 season filled the top-10: No. 6 Boise State, No. 7 Stanford, No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Michigan and No. 10 Michigan State.

Key runners from each of those teams return, namely Allie Ostrander and Brenna Peloquin for the Broncos, Elise Cranny and Vanessa Fraser for the Cardinal, Ingeborg Loevnes and Natalie Baker for the Cowgirls, who surprised with a seventh-place team finish last year, Erin Finn for the Wolverines, and finally, Rachele Schulist and Alexis Weirsma for the 2014 national champion Spartans.

Other notable members of the top-30 include No. 11 Washington, No. 14 Notre Dame (without 2015 individual champion Molly Seidel), No. 16 Virginia and three Ivy League programs in order, No. 23 Princeton, No. 24 Penn and No. 25 Harvard.

As far as conferences go, four different ones had four ranked teams: ACC, Big Ten, Ivy and Pac-12.

We’ll see many of these teams in action against each other throughout the regular season, but most importantly at the 2016 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on November 19 in Terre Haute, Indiana.