Murray State University Athletics
Murray State Women's Cross Country Picked 7th in OVC Preseason Ballot
8/15/2007 5:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
The Murray State women's cross country team was picked as a tie for 7th place and the men's team was picked as a predicted 11th place finisher today in a poll of the Ohio Valley Conference head coaches, announced by the OVC today.
Samford was favored to win the women's crown while Eastern Kentucky was picked to repeat as champions on the men's side.
"The preseason coaches poll just started this year, and I think it's a great way to advertise the season," Murray State head coach Dereck Chavis said. "It's a great way to get motivated. If you get picked near the top, it makes you work hard to stay there, and if you think you got slighted, it gives you an incentive to work harder. It's up to us to break the form and be better than tied for 7th place."
The women's cross country roster will be a young one, consisting of one junior (Alaina Zanin), four sophomores (Taylor Crawford, Kristen Miller, Kristin Reffett, and Amber Thomas), and four incoming freshmen (Katelyn Jones, Asenath NaAman, Emily Ormay, and Ashley Myska).
At last year's OVC Cross Country Championships, Zanin finished in 15th place, while Miller finished 26th as a true freshman.
The men's team will also be young, featuring one junior in Jack Findley, and three sophomores in Ben Hart, Steven Hart, and Andrew Smithson.
"I am very happy with the women's team," Chavis said. "We are returning some people who really worked hard over the summer, and we are really happy with the freshmen we recruited. We are definitely looking forward to a promising season."
