Peach Belt Releases Cross Country Preseason Polls

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The Columbus State Cougars and Lady Cougars have both been forecast to repeat their Peach Belt Conference cross country championships from a year ago as the first-ever preseason coaches poll was released by the conference office. On the men’s side, Columbus State was the unanimous pick, receiving all five first-place votes they were eligible for. GCSU finished second with North Georgia in third. For the women, CSU took five first-place votes to edge out Augusta State by two points. Clayton State was third.

Columbus State had the top three finishers in the 2006 PBC Championship to dominate the meet. John Riddle became the first PBC runner to ever be named both the Freshman of the Year and Runner of the Year as he won the race, followed by freshman teammates Tim English and Stewart Helton, all of whom return for the 2007 season. A fourth freshman, Phillip Burks, finished eighth last year and also returns for his sophomore season in 2007.

On the women’s side, CSU won the 2006 PBC title by two points over Clayton State while Augusta State finished third. Repeating in 2007 may be more difficult with the graduation of Isabel Speer who finished third, but the Lady Cougars have a deep roster of young talent including sophomores Tiara Brown and Lachish McClurkin, both of whom finished in the top 12 last season. Augusta State looks to improve on their third-place finish from last year with senior Annie Kim and junior Jenafer Forward both returning. Clayton State will rely on senior sensation Allison Kreutzer. Kreutzer won the PBC Championship in 2004 and finished second in the NCAA National Championships that same year. She was an All-American once again in 2005, finishing 11th in the nation.

The men’s and women’s polls are listed below, coaches were not permitted to rank their own teams. The 2007 PBC cross country season begins on Aug. 31 and continues to the 2007 PBC Championships which will be run on Saturday, October 20, at Blanchard Park in Evans, Ga., and hosted by Augusta State.