NEW ORLEANS – The UTA Mavericks and Texas State Bobcats are the favorites to win the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country titles, respectively, as voted on by the league’s head coaches. The Sun Belt released the preseason poll Thursday in advance of the 2019 season.
The Mavericks' men’s squad, who claimed the 2018 Sun Belt Championship, their fourth overall cross country title, return five of their top seven finishers from last season. Justin Domangue leads the squad and returns for his senior season after finishing fourth at last year's championship.
UTA has not finished lower than third as a team at the Sun Belt Cross Country Championships since 2013.
Appalachian State is predicted to finish second in both the men's and women's polls. Dakota Mendenhall paved the way for the Mountaineers as a freshman last season, finishing ninth in the men's race in 2018. Six of App's seven runners finished in the top 30 last year.
Coastal Carolina was picked to finish third and are led by brothers Adriaan and Nadeel Wildschutt. Nadeel has claimed each of the last two Sun Belt Cross Country individual titles and will be looking for a third in 2019. The duo outpaced the field by more than 40 seconds taking the top two spots in the race a year ago.
The Wildschutts along with App State's Gable Dershem and Mendenhall, South Alabama's Warno Potgieter and UTA's Domangue and Jared Lautenslager make up the top seven men's cross country runners to watch heading into this season.
On the women's side, Texas State was picked as the favorite to hoist the team trophy in 2019. Leslie Romero returns for the Bobcats and will look to claim back-to-back cross country individual titles. The Bobcats lost two runners who finished in the top 10 a year ago but return Sydney Cole and Abby Steinhauser, who placed in the top 20 for Texas State.
The Mountaineers, last year's women's title winners, will be led by sophomore Izzy Evely and junior Samantha Kolor. The pair are App's top two returning scorers from 2018.
Arkansas State was picked to finish third after earning a third place finish in 2018. Pauline Meyer will look to pace the Red Wolves this season and hopes to improve upon her eighth-place finish in 2018.
USA’s Andonet Cheruiyot, who was the runner-up last year, A-State’s Meyer, and Coastal’s Lisah Van Onselen, joins Texas State’s Romero and Cole, along with the App duo of Evely and Kolor on the top seven women’s cross country runners to watch in 2019.
The 2019 Sun Belt Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships will be held Saturday, Nov. 2, in Hampton, Ga., at Nash Farm Battlefield. The NCAA Regional Championships will be held a week later at various locations and the National Championship is set for Saturday, Nov. 23, in Terre Haute, Ind.
Top 7 Women’s Cross Country Runners to Watch
Izzy Evely, Appalachian State
Samantha Kolor, Appalachian State
Pauline Meyer, Arkansas State
Lisha Van Onselen, Coastal Carolina
Andonet Cheruiyot, South Alabama
Sydney Cole, Texas State
Leslie Romero, Texas State
Women’s Cross Country Predicted Order of Finish
1. Texas State
2. Appalachian State
3. Arkansas State
4. Georgia State
5. South Alabama
6. Coastal Carolina
7. Troy
8. UT Arlington
9. Georgia Southern
10. Little Rock
11. Louisiana
12. ULM
Top 7 Men’s Cross Country Runners to Watch
Gable Dershem, Appalachian State
Dakota Mendenhall, Appalachian State
Adriaan Wildschutt, Coastal Carolina
Nadeel Wildschutt, Coastal Carolina
Warno Potgieter, South Alabama
Justin Domangue, UT Arlington
Jared Lautenslager, UT Arlington
Men’s Cross Country Predicted Order of Finish
1. UT Arlington
2. Appalachian State
3. Coastal Carolina
4. South Alabama
5. Texas State
6. Troy
7. Louisiana
8. Arkansas State
9. Little Rock
10. ULM