Cougars Ranked in the Top 10

PROVO -- The men and women's cross country teams find themselves as two of the top ten teams in the nation. In a poll released by FinishLynx the women are ranked No. 3 in the nation as the defending national champion Stanford Cardinal come in at No. 1.

Last year, the women fell short of repeating as national champions to Stanford, as eight points separated BYU from winning their third straight title in three years.

On the men's side, the Cougars are ranked No. 9 in the nation according to a poll released by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association. Stanford, North Carolina State, Colorado and Michigan are the only four other programs that have both the men and women's teams ranked in the top ten.

In the past four seasons the men have finished in the top 25, with there best finish coming in 2001, when the men finished No. 12 in the nation.

"We are very excited to be recognized as one of the top programs in the nation," men's coach Ed Eyestone said. "But where you start isn't what matters, its how you finish the season."

For the women, getting back to the top will be a tougher road than expected as they lost there No. 1 runner in Kassi Andersen at the start of the season. Andersen suffered an accident this month while cross training on her bike in American Fork Canyon, which left her with a broken left hip. The junior will be out six to eight months.

"You can't replace your No. 1 runner," Shane said. "All you can do is prepare and hope for the best and ask the team to step it up. It's going to change our outlook drastically, but we'll rise to the occasion and we'll be fine."

Both the men and women find themselves heading back east on Oct 1. The men travel to South Bend, Indiana for the Notre Dame Invitational, as the women travel to Cary, North Carolina for the Great America.

MONDO MEN'S NCAA-1 CROSS COUNTRY POLL
Conducted by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association
First Poll -- Sept 21, 2004
Ranking	Team (first place votes)    Region    Points
1   Wisconsin (9)                    GL         414
2   Stanford (4)                     W          403
3   Iona                             NE         384
4   Arkansas                         SC         378
5   Colorado                         M          363
6   Michigan                         GL         337
7   Georgetown                       MA         333
8   North Carolina State             SE         298
9   BYU                              M          291
10  Cal Poly San Luis Obispo         W          242
11  Air Force                        M          241
12  Indiana                          GL         236
13  Villanova                        MA         235
14  Providence                       NE         230
15  Northern Arizona                 M          185
16  Minnesota                        MW         160
17  Arizona                          W          151
18  Oklahoma State                   MW         147
19  Central Michigan                 GL         131
20  Miami                            GL         127
21  Oregon                           W          124
22  Georgia                          S          104
23  Ohio State                       GL         104
24  Butler                           GL         103
25  Washington                       W           93
26  Florida State                    S           92
27  Colorado State                   M           91
28  Iowa                             MW          80
29  Notre Dame                       GL	         66
30  Arizona State                    W           65
FinishLynx NCAA Division I
Women's Cross Country National Poll
2004 Poll 31 - September 20, 2004
Ranking  Team (first place votes)   Points
1        Stanford (10)              386  
2        Providence (3)             376
3        Brigham Young (1)          365
4        Notre Dame                 354
5        North Carolina State       332
6        Colorado                   318
7        Michigan                   309
8        Princeton                  296
9        UCLA                       287
10       Villanova                  267
11       North Carolina             249
12       Wake Forest                235
13       Columbia                   230
14       Missouri                   227
15       Georgetown                 200
16       Arkansas                   194
17       Duke                       188
18       Marquette                  170
19       Idaho                      135
20       Tennessee                  135
21       Penn State                 120
22       Arizona State              116
23       Michigan State             107
24       Texas Tech                  84
25       Washington                  81
26       Colorado State              62
27       Yale                        59
28       Southern Mehodist           38
29       Oklahoma                    30
30       West Virginia               25