Edinboro Women and Shippensburg Men Headline Cross Country Preseason Polls
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Lock Haven, Pa. – For the second consecutive season, Shippensburg has been picked by the league’s head coaches to win the PSAC men’s cross country title, while Edinboro’s women snapped Shippensburg’s five straight No. 1 ranking streak to claim the top spot on the women’s preseason poll.
The Shippensburg men were given seven first-place votes, as did defending PSAC Champion and second ranked Lock Haven. The Red Raiders finished the 2013 season with a 23rd-place finish at the NCAA Division II National Championship led by now senior
Brayden Burleigh’s top 50 finish. Shippensburg returns all seven runners that participated in the national championship. Burleigh placed third individually at the 2013 PSAC Championship with a time of 25:25.9.
The PSAC Championship will crown a new men’s individual champion in 2014, as Lock Haven graduated three-time PSAC Champion Alex Monroe. The Bald Eagles captured the NCAA D-II Atlantic Regional title last season, marking the seventh regional title for the program and first since 2010. Lock Haven’s seven first-place nods are the most the team has ever received on the PSAC preseason poll, while its No. 2 ranking is its best since tying with Shippensburg for second in 2011.
Perennial powerhouse Edinboro is ranked third and received one first-place vote, while No. 4 California earned the final first-place nod. Last season the Fighting Scots finished a PSAC-best ninth at the national championship for the second straight year. Edinboro has won 29 PSAC titles in program history, including two titles in the last three years. California returns All-American
Aaron Dinzeo, who took second to Monroe in 2013 at the conference championship with a time of 24:46.2. Dinzeo qualified for the national championship as an individual last season and took fifth on the national stage with a time of 30:14.3.
No. 1 Edinboro’s women clinched six first-place votes, as did No. 2 Shippensburg. In 2013 Edinboro clinched its first NCAA D-II Atlantic Regional crown since 2007 after finishing just behind Mansfield at the league championship. The Fighting Scots, who finished 13th as a team at the national championship, lead the PSAC with 15 PSAC titles in program history.
Prior to the 2014 preseason poll, Shippensburg had garnered the top spot for five straight years. The Raiders won five consecutive PSAC titles from 2008-12 and placed third at last year’s championship with 103 points. Shippensburg took fourth at the 2013 NCAA D-II Atlantic Regional and place 22nd at the national championship.
Seton Hill debuted ranked sixth on the 2013 preseason poll and has jumped up to third with one first-place vote after finishing fifth at the league championship last season. California finished the voting ranked fourth with three first-place votes. The Vulcans return senior
Alex Zanella, who qualified for the 2013 national championship as an individual after finishing fourth at the Atlantic Regional race.
Following No. 5 Slippery Rock is No. 6 IUP with one first-place nod. IUP’s
Rachel Magliane placed fourth individually at the 2013 PSAC Championship and is the lone top five returner from last season’s conference championship. Defending PSAC Champion Mansfield is ranked ninth with the final first-place vote. The Mounties’ league title was the first PSAC crown won by a Mansfield women’s team since 1983.
Listed below are the PSAC men’s and women’s cross country preseason polls. First place votes are in parenthesis.
Men’s Cross Country
1. Shippensburg (7)
2. Lock Haven (7)
3. Edinboro (1)
4. California (1)
5. Slippery Rock
6. East Stroudsburg
7. Kutztown
8. IUP
9. Mansfield
10. Mercyhurst
11. Seton Hill
12. West Chester
13. Bloomsburg
14. Gannon
15. Pitt-Johnstown
16. Cheyney
Women’s Cross Country
1. Edinboro (6)
2. Shippensburg (6)
3. Seton Hill (1)
4. California (3)
5. Slippery Rock
6. IUP (1)
7. Bloomsburg
8. Kutztown
9. Mansfield (1)
10. West Chester
11. East Stroudsburg
12. Millersville
13. Lock Haven
14. Gannon
15. Clarion
16. Mercyhurst
17. Pitt-Johnstown
18. Cheyney