NEW ORLEANS, La. (October 16, 2018) – The NAU women's cross country team has made its way into the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Coaches' Poll for the first time in the 2018 season. The Lumberjacks came in at rank number 28 after its ninth placed finish against some of the nation's top NCAA Division I women's cross country programs at the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals.
Seven of the eight teams that finished ahead of NAU at Pre-Nationals were ranked in the top thirty. In a team full of sophomore and freshman runners the women's program was able to hold their own in one of the toughest fields the sport will see in 2018. The Women's 6K Cardinal Race was a telling sign of the direction that the team is headed in.
"We try not to read too much into rankings or polls," said Director of Cross Country and Track & Field
Michael Smith. "However this is a sign that we are trending in the right direction."
The women began the season with a dominating performance at the 2018 George Kyte Classic in Flagstaff. A 19
th placed team finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational was a huge experience moment for the squad as many of the runners ran against top tier competition for the first time in their collegiate careers.
It can be both an obstacle and luxury for a team like NAU's women's cross country to be in the same vicinity as the men's team. This week the men were ranked number one again for the 19
th straight week. The obstacle and luxury comes in the form of standards and expectations for the entire cross country and track & field program. The benefit to having that kind success surround a program tends to bring out the best in everyone at all levels.
"The women have done a great job at following their process and growing in experience," said assistant coach
Jarred Cornfield. "It is great to see them believing they can compete with the best teams in the country. This ranking is simply a reflection of this group doing a great job of being exceptional teammates to one another."
The last time the women's team was ranked in the top 30 of the USTFCCCA National Coaches Poll was Week Six of 2017 when they crept in at number 29. The loss of seniors
Paige Gilchrist,
Kylie Goo and
Emma Keenan put NAU in a position where it had to get its youngest runners experience very early on in their collegiate careers.
Highlights from this season have included redshirt freshman
Hannah Behunin's first placed finish at the George Kyte Classic 2.6 mile race (15:53.0), senior
Shannon Molvin's return to the program and true freshman
Bryn Morley's 39
th placed finish at Pre-Nationals in the Women's 6K Cardinal Race (21:00.4).
"Pre-Nationals affirmed our goals and showed what we were capable of," said Molvin. "We loved what we were doing and I think that goes a long way in this sport. We have been working so hard and we want to use this contagious momentum to race hard at conference."
"Our level of competition is getting higher and higher," added Smith.
The Lumberjacks will face some fierce competition as they enter the 2018 Big Sky Conference Championships. Conference rival Southern Utah is currently ranked number 23 in the national poll. On the men's side SUU also had a top ten finish at Pre-Nationals and are ranked number 25.
"Southern Utah is going to be a tough race and they are a great team," concluded Molvin. "We look forward to the challenge and have a group of 20 girls that genuinely care about each other and are trying to build something here."
