Women Start Season Ranked 15th in Country
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 | Cross Country
The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) ranked the University of Florida women's cross country team 15th in the nation on Tuesday.
The Gators earned the number two spot in the South Regional Preseason Rankings, which was released on Sept. 15. The UF men were ranked fourth in the region.
The 2007 NCAA Division I National Champion Oregon was voted into the top spot on the national list with 10 first place votes. Florida State, Washington, Stanford and Arizona State followed to round out the top five. Arkansas was the only other Southeastern Conference team to be featured on the 30-team list.
The women are returning five runners from last season's team, which finished 11th in the NCAA Championship, the highest place in program history. The Gators also added two newcomers to the roster.
UF opens its season on Saturday, Sept. 20 with the 20th Annual Mountain Dew Invitational on the UF Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla. Both the men's and women's teams have won the invitational for the past two seasons. The women's collegiate 5K race starts at 8 a.m. followed by the men's 8K at 8:30 a.m.
| Division I Women | |||
| Sept. 16th, 2008 |
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| Ranking | Team (first place votes) | Region/Rank | Totals |
| 1. | Oregon (10) | West-1 | 358 |
| 2. | Florida State (1) | South-1 | 340 |
| 3. | Washington (1) | West-3 | 328 |
| 4. | Stanford | West-2 | 316 |
| 5. | Arizona State | West-4 | 306 |
| 6. | West Virginia | Mid-Atlantic-2 | 291 |
| 7. | Princeton | Mid-Atlantic-1 | 276 |
| 8. | Michigan State | Great Lakes-1 | 272 |
| 9. | Minnesota | Midwest-1 | 262 |
| 10. | Illinois | Midwest-2 | 247 |
| 11. | Arkansas | South Central-1 | 233 |
| 12. | Texas Tech | Mountain-2 | 206 |
| 13. | Wisconsin | Great Lakes-2 | 197 |
| 14. | Colorado State | Mountain-1 | 193 |
| 15. | Florida | South-2 | 187 |
| 16. | Providence | Northeast-1 | 174 |
| 17. | Michigan | Great Lakes-3 | 166 |
| 18. | Rice | South Central-2 | 160 |
| 19. | Northern Arizona | Mountain-3 | 144 |
| 20. | Duke | Southeast-1 | 135 |
| 21. | Georgetown | Mid-Atlantic-3 | 121 |
| 22. | BYU | Mountain-5 | 104 |
| 23. | Colorado | Mountain-6 | 92 |
| 24. | Baylor | South Central-3 | 81 |
| 25. | Boston College | Northeast-2 | 72 |
| 26. | Stony Brook | Northeast-3 | 57 |
| 27. | Iowa | Midwest-4 | 47 |
| 28. | North Carolina | Southeast-3 | 41 |
| 29. | North Carolina State | Southeast-2 | 33 |
| 30. | Nebraska | Midwest-3 | 25 |
| ORV: Tennessee 20, Georgia 18, Penn State 18, New Mexico 16, Virginia Tech 13, Villanova 10, UC-Riverside 9, Syracuse 5, Notre Dame 4, Virginia 2, Vanderbilt 1. | |||
