SAN BRUNO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference announced its 2018 men's and women's cross country preseason polls this week. The Lion women were slated to finish fourth with 58 total points, while the men landed in sixth place with 29 points. The teams are voted on by the 10 head coaches in the conference.
"The women are coming off of a third-place finish last year in a conference where the only two teams to beat us finished second and 11th at the NCAA meet," Lions head coach
Scott Guerrero said. "Losing an All-American in
Danielle Shanahan won't help us but we have returners who are much improved and we have added some new folks who are looking to be impact players right out of the gate."
This marks Guerrero's 21st season as head coach for LMU's cross country and track & field programs.
"A similar situation on the men's side where the top two teams in our conference were the second and third best teams in the nation," Guerrero said. "We did lose a few of our varsity guys but
Jack Polerecky was our #1 all last year and he is back with something to prove in his last season. We have a very deep team; quite possibly the deepest in my time here. We have a very good group of returners and we have added some new guys who are looking to make some noise. While I understand the sixth place ranking because that's where we finished last year, I'd guess this will go up on the bulletin board in the locker room and we'll see what our guys have to say about it in October."
The Lions begin their 2018 season on Friday, Sept. 1, at the Mark Covert Classic at Cal State Fullerton.
On the men's side, BYU, who has won three consecutive WCC titles, took the top spot with 63 points. Here's the breakdown of where the men's teams finished:
| No. |
Team |
Votes (First Place) |
| 1. |
BYU |
63 (7) |
| 2. |
Portland |
58 (2) |
| 3. |
San Francisco |
47 |
| 4. |
Gonzaga |
46 |
| 5. |
Santa Clara |
34 |
| 6. |
Loyola Marymount |
29 |
| 7. |
Saint Mary's |
24 |
| 8. |
Pepperdine |
15 |
| 9. |
San Diego |
8 |
For the women, BYU and defending WCC champion San Francisco have been picked to share this year's WCC Cross Country title, after each earned 77 total votes and five first place votes. Here's how the women's teams stacked up:
| No. |
Team |
Votes (First Place) |
| T1. |
BYU |
77 (5) |
| T1. |
San Francisco |
77 (5) |
| 3. |
Portland |
62 |
| 4. |
Loyola Marymount |
58 |
| 5. |
Gonzaga |
47 |
| 6. |
San Diego |
42 |
| T7. |
Pacific |
27 |
| T7. |
Saint Mary's |
27 |
| 9. |
Santa Clara |
24 |
| 10. |
Pepperdine |
9 |
The 2018 WCC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships will take place October 27 at East Bay Golf Course in Provo, Utah.
