The Radford University women’s cross-country team was picked to finish third and the men’s team fourth in the Big South Conference’s 2021 cross-country preseason poll.
Twelve institutions in the conference compete in cross country.
High Point was selected to win the women’s conference championship with Campbell second. On the men’s side, Campbell finished atop the poll with Charleston Southern second and High Point third.
The Radford women did get one vote to win the conference title and three votes for second place. Their 121 total points left them only seven points behind second-place Campbell.
The RU men finished with 101 total points in the preseason poll with most of their votes landing them in fourth place. Only two voters selected the team to finish lower than fourth.
This preseason poll marks the first time the women’s program has received a first-place vote since the Big South started tracking preseason polls in 2002. This was also the team’s highest preseason ranking since 2002.
The men’s fourth-place ranking tied the team for its highest selection since 2017. The 2021 fall preseason poll was the third straight season the women have been picked to finish in the top five and the second straight season the men have been voted in the top five.
Radford is scheduled to open its fall season on Sept.1 at the Virginia Tech Invitational with eight meets scheduled overall. The Big South Championships will be hosted by High Point on Oct. 29.
The poll results for the women’s teams with the first-place votes in parentheses and the total points accumulated were as follows: 1. High Point (9) 139 2. Campbell (2) 128 3. Radford (1) 121 4. Charleston Southern 97 5. UNC Asheville 92 6. USC Upstate 80 7. Winthrop 75 8. North Carolina A&T 53 9. Longwood 44 10. Gardner-Webb 43 11. Hampton 33 12. Presbyterian 31
The poll results for the men’s teams with the first-place votes in parentheses and the total points accumulated were as follows: 1. Campbell (8) 140 2. Charleston Southern (4) 128 3. High Point 124 4. Radford 101 5. UNC Asheville 94 6. USC Upstate 78 7. Winthrop 68 8. North Carolina A&T 57 9. Longwood 52 10. Presbyterian 43 11. Hampton 29 12. Gardner-Webb 22.
