Scots Cross Country Teams Ranked 2-3 in Midwest Conference Preseason Poll

by Dan Nolan

Monmouth, IL (08/27/2019) — If the Midwest Conference cross country coaches are correct, Monmouth College will be a team to watch at this fall's cross country championships. In a vote of the league's coaches, the Fighting Scots were picked to finish second in the men's race and third in the women's competition.

Monmouth's men, with all-conference performer Riley Dulin returning, picked up one first-place vote and 61 total points to trail Grinnell's seven first-place votes and 78 points as the projected winner of the men's competition. St. Norbert was 10 points behind the Scots in third position, leading No. 4 Lake Forest by five points. Two-time defending champion Cornell was projected to finish fifth.

The Fighting Scots women, with all-conference runners Arika Hofmann, Julia Sterr and Caroline Young back for another year, netted 68 points to rank third, just three points behind Grinnell, which picked up a pair of first-place votes. Three-time defending champion St. Norbert, in its final year in the Midwest Conference, was tabbed as the favorite to win again with 80 points and eight first-place votes.

The league championships will be hosted by Knox on Nov. 2.