The University of Minnesota begins the season at the top of the Division I Women's Midwest Region Preseason Cross Country Rankings released this week. The Golden Gopher men sit in second place behind Oklahoma State in the regional poll, which is distributed by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The complete Division I Midwest Region rankings are available here.
Update: The Gophers men and women are each ranked 9th in the Coaches Association's preseason national poll that was released today.
The U of M has posted extensive season previews for both the women and men.
In the men's Division II national poll, Minnesota State - Mankato is ranked 6th while the University of Minnesota - Duluth is ranked 15th (up 9 spots from the preseason rankings). The Bulldogs are the lone Minnesota school in the women's Division II poll, ranked 24th. Complete Division II rankings can be found here.
The St. Thomas women are ranked 21st in the Division III national poll. St. Olaf is the highest ranked Minnesota school on the men's side. The Oles sit in 25th, while Bethel University is ranked 35th. Division III national rankings are available here.
Intersting to note that the Midwest Region only has Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois -- the rest of the Big Ten schools are in the Great Lakes (and Mid-Atlantic, in the case of Penn St.) regions.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the Big Ten rates pretty highly in the Great Lakes regional poll (WI #2 for both men and women).
Also, is there any word on which, if any, of the freshmen on the men's team are being redshirted. I enjoyed watching Andy Richardson and Pieter Gagnon compete in the region and state track meets last spring.