College Athletics News – Guilford Cross Country Teams Ranked in Preseason ODAC Polls

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College’s men’s cross country team was picked third and the women ninth in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference preseason coaches’ polls, released Monday. Bridgewater College earned the top spot in the men’s 11-team poll. Washington and Lee University edged out Bridgewater for first place in the 10-unit women’s rankings.

Coach Danny Cash’s men’s team returns three of the ODAC’s finest distance runners in seniors David Cason, Andris Goncarovs and Chad Norton. Goncarovs earned First Team All-ODAC honors last year by placing fourth in the 2012 ODAC Championships. Norton and Cason finished eighth and ninth, respectively, earning Second Team all-league honors. The trio later posted All-South finishes at the NCAA Division III South/Southeast Regional Championships where Goncarovs and Norton qualified for nationals. Norton ran a personal-best 25:51, the fifth-fastest eight-kilometer time in Guilford history, and placed a school-record 73rd at the NCAA Championships. Goncarovs finished 127th in 25:45.6, eighth-best in school history. Senior Patrick Westervelt rounds out the Quakers’ four returning letter winners.

The Quakers’ women return six veterans from last season’s club that placed eighth at the 2012 ODAC Championships. Junior Jasmine O’Neill has been Guilford’s top runner in each of her first two seasons and had a team-best 34th-place showing in last year’s league meet. Classmate Emily Cash and sophomore Rebecca Reyna are other top veterans. Seven new runners have joined the Quakers this fall, giving Guilford one of its largest rosters in the program’s history.

The Quakers open the season Friday (8/30) at the ODAC Preview Meet in Farmville, Va., site of the 2013 ODAC Championships Nov. 2.

2013 ODAC MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY PRESEASON POLL
(#) Denotes first place votes
1. Bridgewater (8) 98 pts.
2. Lynchburg (3) 92 pts.
3. Guilford 74 pts.
4. Washington and Lee 70 pts.
5. Roanoke 63 pts.
6. Eastern Mennonite 59 pts.
7. Virginia Wesleyan 40 pts.
8. Shenandoah 37 pts.
9. Hampden-Sydney 30 pts.
10. Emory & Henry 27 pts.
11. Randolph 15 pts.

2013 ODAC WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY PRESEASON POLL
(#) Denotes first place votes
1. Washington and Lee (7) 77 pts.
2. Bridgewater (3) 75 pts.
3. Eastern Mennonite 65 pts.
4. Lynchburg 59 pts.
5. Virginia Wesleyan 45 pts.
6. Roanoke 44 pts.
7. Shenandoah 29 pts.
8. Randolph 21 pts.
9. Guilford 20 pts.
10. Emory & Henry 15 pts.