America East Release
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The America East Conference announced the preseason cross country coaches' polls this week. The Vermont women's cross country team was picked to finish fifth, while the men were selected seventh.
On the women's side, three-time defending champion Stony Brook was picked to defend its title. The Seawolves earned eight first-place votes and 64 points. New Hampshire racked up 48 points to grab the second spot in the poll, followed closely by Maine in third with 47 points. Boston University took the remaining first-place vote, ranking fourth overall in the poll with 44 points. Vermont grabbed fifth place with 35 points, just a few points ahead of Albany and Binghamton, which tied for sixth place with 31 points each. UMBC and Hartford round out the field with 16 and eight points, respectively.
Vermont will be led this season by 2009 All-New England honorees Morgan Powers (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Debbie Isen (Bethesda, Md.). Powers was UVM's top finisher twice and runner-up on the team in four other races last year. Isen was UVM’s top runner at the New England Championship finishing 10th overall with a time of 18:18.
On the men’s side defending cross country champion Binghamton has been selected by America East coaches as the preseason favorite in the conference, with 57 points. Stony Brook falls in second place with 49 points and two first-place votes, just ahead of New Hampshire’s 48 points in third place and Boston University, which grabbed fourth with 47 points and the remaining first-place vote. Albany comes in at fifth with 37 points and University of Maine is sixth with 34 points. Vermont checks in at the seventh spot with 27 points, ahead of eighth-place UMBC, with 17 points, and ninth-place Hartford, taking eight points.
The Catamounts finished fifth at the America East Championship last season and they will once again have great team depth. In total, nine Vermont runners finished in the top 50 at last years conference championship. Juniors Connor Jennings (Concord, N.H.) and John Little (New Ipswich, N.H.) are the key returners this season, as both were among UVM’s top five finishers at the NCAA Regionals last year.
The men’s and women’s cross country team open the 2010 season at home on September 12, at the Catamount Family Center in Williston, Vt. Columbia and Lipscomb will face the Catamounts. The race is slated to start at 11 a.m.