Texans picked second, TexAnns fourth in LSC Cross Country poll

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Tarleton Athletic Communications

STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton cross country teams checked in at No. 2 and No. 4 in the men’s and women’s preseason poll, respectively, when the rankings were released Thursday morning by the Lone Star Conference.

“Every coach is going to tell you it’s a motivational tool,” said head coach Pat Ponder. “Obviously, you always like to be ranked high because that is a reflection of the success of your program, but the kids have to do their jobs and the coaches have to do their jobs to make sure that we are ready for the season. In the big picture of things, it’s just a motivational tool.”

On the men’s side, Tarleton received 104 total votes and one first-place nod en route to second place in the poll behind only West Texas A&M with 139 and 19 first-place votes.

#LSCxc Men’s Preseason Poll: No. 2 @TarletonSports pic.twitter.com/4H4puefOCZ

– Lone Star Conference (@LoneStarConf) August 6, 2015

Coming in behind Tarleton was Eastern New Mexico (93) in third and Texas A&M-Commerce (83) in fourth. Cameron, Angelo State and Texas A&M-Kingsville rounded out the poll, respectively, on the men’s side.

2015 Lone Star Conference Men’s Preseason Poll
Rank	School	First-Place Votes	Total Votes
1	West Texas A&M	19	139
2	Tarleton	1	104
3	Eastern New Mexico		93
4	Texas A&M-Commerce		83
5	Cameron		68
6	Angelo State		51
7	Texas A&M-Kingsville		22

The Texans are coming off a third-place finish in the conference last season and return a pair of all-LSC runners, Dylan Willet and Dallas Rushing. Joining the all-conference duo will be a pair of seniors returning off a redshirt season last year – Chase Rathke and Tye Doty.

“We looked ahead and knew that we would be hosting the LSC Championships this season and that is what we’ve been building for,” said Ponder. “You always want to try and build for that moment and – no pun intended – put your best foot forward. We have Chase and Tye coming back on the men’s side and Aly Coughlin will also come back for her senior season after redshirting last year on the women’s side. So we’ll have four of the six girls back that went to the NCAA National Championship meet in 2013. I’m excited to see how we compete this year.”

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On the women’s side, Aly Coughlin returns from a redshirt season after being a part of the 1-2 punch with Lindsey Hinton in 2013 that put the TexAnns in the NCAA National Championship meet. Joining the 2013 LSC Newcomer of the Year will be Katelin Huckabee, Audrey Shelton, and Tylo Farrar as the TexAnns look to improve on their No. 4 position in the preseason poll.

West Texas A&M and Midwestern State were in a tight race for the top spot with the Lady Buffs edging out the No. 1 position with 126 and 12 first-place votes. Midwestern State tallied 121 and eight first-place nods while Eastern New Mexico checked in at No. 3 with 94.

#LSCxc Women’s Preseason Poll: 4) @TarletonSports 5) @AngeloSports 6) @Lion_Athletics 7) @JavelinaSports

– Lone Star Conference (@LoneStarConf) August 6, 2015

Tarleton finished three points ahead of Angelo State for fourth place while Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas A&M-Kingsville rounded out the women’s poll.

2015 Lone Star Conference Women’s Preseason Poll
Rank	School	First-Place Votes	Total Votes
1	West Texas A&M	12	126
2	Midwestern State	8	121
3	Eastern New Mexico		94
4	Tarleton		76
5	Angelo State		73
6	Texas A&M-Commerce		46
7	Texas A&M-Kingsville		24

Tarleton will open the 2015 season at the Ken Garland Invitational, which was a late addition to the schedule in recent days, on September 12 at the University of North Texas in Denton.

The Lone Star Conference Championships are slated to be in Stephenville on October 26.

“Anytime that you can run a home meet, it’s always exciting,” said Ponder. “We’ll be running on a Monday morning so we’ll be the only show in town. Hopefully we’ll have a good crowd that will come out and support us.”