Oregon Tech Cross Country Teams Make History with NAIA Preseason Ranking

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  – The Oregon Tech women's cross country team debuted at No.4 and the OIT men debuted at No.10 in this week's NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Preseason Poll announced today by the NAIA National Office. Both rankings are the highest rankings in school history and it also marks the first time in school history that both teams were ranked in the NAIA Preseason Top 10.
 
The OIT women soared to the Cascade Conference title last season after three consecutive third place finishes and have made national appearances the last four years.  The Lady Owls were voted to win the Cascade Conference last month in the CCC Coaches' Preseason Poll. "We are returning great talent and with a very strong recruiting class we will try to improve on our 10th place finish from last year at the national meet," said Head Coach Jack Kegg.
 
The women's team returns six on the top 25 list and three of those are the fastest in school history, All-American Cindy Reed (17:39.0), Danielle De Castro an All-American from 2016 (17:39.4), along with two-time All-American Susie Garza (17:45.0).
 
Other returners are Jordan Monroe (18:07), Annika Andersen (18:29), and Mallory Ward(18:56) who will look to improve and tighten the back end of the scoring for the Owls.
 
"The Oregon Tech men are hungry to prove last year's 10th place national finish was not a fluke," said Kegg. "I feel they can compete with anyone in the country on any given day but will need to work hard all year to stay where we are." It appears that Coach Kegg's NAIA peers agree with him as the OIT men were voted 10th in today's poll.
 
Southern Oregon led the CCC in the rankings coming in at No. 3, followed by College of Idaho at No. 6, and Eastern Oregon 7th.
 
Although the Hustlin' Owls graduated three from last year's team, Coach Kegg is confident they have the talent to compete at the national level.  Two-time all-American Mark French (24:48) will lead a group of returners with great national experience; Tim McPherson (25:20), Ricky Garcia (25:42), Paul Wyatt (26:01), Caleb Kauffman (26:42), and Chris Ramirez (27:15) all have national experience.
 
Freshman Nick McMillen will be asked to hit the ground running and complete a team with national expectations. 
 
Coach Kegg and his cross country squads open up the 2018 season at Linfield College this weekend on August 31st in McMinnville, Oregon. The CCC championships will be held in Issaquah, Washington on November 3rd, hosted by Northwest University. The Owls will have high expectations to duplicate their 2017 success at the NAIA Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on November 16th.

Press release from Oregon Tech Sports Information.