Oregon Women Earn Top Ranking in Women’s Division I XC Poll
The Pac-10 Conference takes four of the top five spots in women’s poll

NEW ORLEANS – After finishing second a year ago at the NCAA Division I Cross Country National Championships, the Oregon women are poised to make a run for the team title in 2008 after being named the top ranked team in Division I, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced on Tuesday.

The OU women return four of the five runners from last year’s team, led by junior All-American Nicole Blood and sophomore All-American Alexandra Kosinski. Oregon opens their 2008 season at home on October 4th when they host the 2008 Bill Dellinger Invitational.

The Seminoles of Florida State are ranked second behind Oregon and received one first place vote in this week’s poll. FSU, the top ranked team in the South Region, took part in the Covered Bridge Open a couple weeks ago and placed five runners in the top five slots to sweep the meet. The Seminoles will head to Blacksburg, Virginia this weekend for the Virginia Tech Invitational.

Ranking Team (first place votes) Region/Rank Totals
1. Oregon (10) West-1 358
2. Florida State (1) South-1 340
3. Washington (1) West-3 328
4. Stanford West-2 316
5. Arizona State West-4 306
6. West Virginia Mid-Atlantic-2 291
7. Princeton Mid-Atlantic-1 276
8. Michigan State Great Lakes-1 272
9. Minnesota Midwest-1 262
10. Illinois Midwest-2 247
11. Arkansas South Central-1 233
12. Texas Tech Mountain-2 206
13. Wisconsin Great Lakes-2 197
14. Colorado State Mountain-1 193
15. Florida South-2 187
16. Providence Northeast-1 174
17. Michigan Great Lakes-3 166
18. Rice South Central-2 160
19. Northern Arizona Mountain-3 144
20. Duke Southeast-1 135
21. Georgetown Mid-Atlantic-3 121
22. BYU Mountain-5 104
23. Colorado Mountain-6 92
24. Baylor South Central-3 81
25. Boston College Northeast-2 72
26. Stony Brook Northeast-3 57
27. Iowa Midwest-4 47
28. North Carolina Southeast-3 41
29. North Carolina State Southeast-2 33
30. Nebraska Midwest-3 25

ORV: Tennessee 20, Georgia 18, Penn State 18, New Mexico 16, Virginia Tech 13, Villanova 10, UC-Riverside 9, Syracuse 5, Notre Dame 4, Virginia 2, Vanderbilt 1.