PULLMAN, Wash. -- The Washington State men's cross country team earned a No.11 ranking in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Preseason poll published Aug.29, 2017. The No. 11 ranking is the highest since 1998 when the Cougars team, led by distance legend, Olympian and WSU Athletics Hall of Fame member Bernard Lagat, was ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll.
This is also the first time WSU has been in the top-30 at the start of the season since 2012. Only three other Pac-12 schools rank higher in the 2017 men's preseason poll: No. 2 Stanford, No. 5 Colorado and No. 9 Oregon.
The latest 2017 Preseason FloXC Rankings places the Cougar men 19th nationally.
The strong national expectations come after the WSU men's team 2016 fifth-place finishes at the Pac-12 and NCAA West Region Championships. After receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year, the No. 18 Cougars, led by junior Michael Williams' 30th place All-America finish, captured 14th at NCAA DI meet. It was the highest Cougars finish in 32 years.
Also returning from the 2016 NCAA team are senior Sam Levora, and juniors Nathan Tadesse, Chandler Teigen, Paul Ryan, and Nathan Wadhwani. Another squad member, Justin Janke, had a memorable freshman year with his fourth-place finish that led the USA U20 Men's team to the team gold medal at the 13th Annual North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships in March.
The WSU men's team is ranked No. 3 in the USTFCCCA West Region preseason rankings, behind Stanford and Oregon. For complete men's and women's team national and regional rankings, visit ustfccca.org.
WSU's cross country runners compete on Sept. 1 at the WSU Alumni Meet in Colfax, Wash.