ATTLEBORO, Mass. – Southern Vermont College has been selected to finish third in the 2018 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) women's cross country championship meet as determined by the preseason poll results which were released on Tuesday.
SVC took that spot with one of the nine first-place votes cast by league coaches.
The Mountaineers finished third in the 2017 title race, but they will need to replace four team members who graduated from that squad. Southern Vermont second-year head coach Jarrett Blankenship believes his team will be able to live up to that task if his runners can avoid injuries.
"First and foremost, we need five healthy individuals to toe the line so that we can score as a team," Blankenship said. "It's really important that those five individuals are on the same page and understand their role on the team."
Returners for Coach Blankenship include senior Maddy Main (Bennington, Vt.) and sophomore Faith Sullivan (Bennington, Vt.). Main earned an NECC Rookie of the Week honor in 2017 and came through fifth for SVC at the league championship with a personal-record time of 24:33. Sullivan looks to continue making tremendous strides after knocking off over seven minutes from her first race of the season for her current personal best.
"I expect every individual to put in the work that is needed for new personal records to be established," Blankenship added. "I think Maddy and Faith both have a much better idea of what it takes to get them to the next level after having a successful stint of summer training."
Southern Vermont begins the regular season on Saturday, September 1 (10:30 a.m.) when the team hosts its Mountaineer Invitational on the tough mountain-side course. SVC then has five more meets on the schedule before heading to Elms College on October 27 for the NECC Championship.
2018 NECC Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll
1. Lesley — 73 (7)
2. Elms – 69 (1)
3. Southern Vermont — 65 (1)
4. Newbury — 48
5. Dean — 41
6. Mitchell — 35
7. Eastern Nazarene — 32
8. New England College — 31
9. Bay Path — 11
(Parentheses denote first-place votes)
– #LetsGoSVC –