Augusta Picked Runner Up In PBC Preseason Coaches Poll

Augusta Picked Runner Up In PBC Preseason Coaches Poll

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Augusta University women's cross country team was picked to finish second in the 2017 Peach Belt Conference preseason coaches poll, released Monday morning from the league office.

 

North Georgia was declared the unanimous choice to capture the PBC title in a poll of the league's head coaches released. The Nighthawks captured all 10 first-place votes available for maximum 100 point score. Augusta was in second with Flagler third, UNC Pembroke fourth, Georgia College fifth and Columbus State sixth. Clayton State, Georgia Southwestern, Francis Marion, Lander and USC Aiken rounded out the voting.

 

Augusta finished third at the 2016 PBC Championships and were seventh at the NCAA regional. The Jaguars return four seniors for 2017 including Lara Way, who was named All-Conference after leading the team at the PBC Championships with a 10th-place finish.   Seniors Diana Petrmichlova and Olivia Rodriguez also return along with juniors Macy Hayes and McKenzie Knudsen.

 

Flagler had an impressive 2016 campaign as they ran fourth at the PBC Championships and eighth at the NCAA regionals.  The 2013 conference champions return seven runners from last year's team including junior Heloise Duffie de Tassigny, who ran 16th at the PBC and was the first Saint across the line at the NCAAs.  Also returning is junior Lauren Penkala who ran third on the team at the PBC and NCAA.

 

UNC Pembroke finished just six points behind Flagler at the 2016 PBC Championship and were 10th at the NCAA Regional.  The Braves will debut seven freshmen in 2017, but do return veterans including Kristin Cain, who was named All-Conference last year and sophomore Michaela Reynolds ran her fastest 6k at the NCAAs, finishing 42nd.

 

The 2017 preseason poll is listed below as selected by the league's head coaches. Teams were given 10 points for a first-place vote, nine for second and so on.  Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own teams.

 

2017 Women's Cross Country Preseason Coaches Poll

Rank

Team

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

10th

Total

1.

North Georgia

10

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

100

2.

Augusta

0

7

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

88

3.

Flagler

0

2

8

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

82

4.

UNC Pembroke

0

1

1

4

3

1

0

0

0

0

68

5.

Georgia College

0

1

1

4

2

2

0

0

0

0

67

6.

Columbus State

0

0

0

1

5

2

2

0

0

0

55

7.

Clayton State

0

0

0

1

1

5

2

1

0

0

49

8.

Georgia Southwestern

0

0

0

0

0

0

5

4

1

0

34

9.

Francis Marion

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

4

5

1

23

10.

Lander

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

2

0

6

21

11.

USC Aiken

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

5

4

18

 
 

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