University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Women's Cross Country Ranked 17th in Preseason Poll
9/5/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Brigham Young collected 12 of 13 first-place votes to earn top billing to begin the 2002 season. Minnesota is one of two Big Ten Conference teams ranked, being joined by defending conference champion Michigan State at No. 12. Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan received votes.
The Golden Gophers open their 2002 campaign this Saturday with an intrasquad meet at 11 a.m. at the Les Bolstad Golf Course. Minnesota, directed by veteran head coach Gary Wilson in his 18th year with the Gophers, returns 11 letterwinners from the squad which advanced to the NCAA Championships and placed 25th a year ago. The Gophers hope to compete at the NCAA Championships for the sixth consecutive season later this fall.
Leading the way for the Gophers are a trio of All-NCAA Midwest Regional performers from a year ago in sophomore Lisa Dyer (Moorhead, Minn./ Moorhead) and juniors Laura Bjork (Colfax, Wis./Colfax), and Darja Vasiljeva (Jelgava, Latvia/Jelgava Secondary).
FinishLynx/NCAA Division I Women's Cross Country National Poll (Conducted by the Women's Cross Country Coaches Association) 2002 Preseason Poll September 5, 2002 Ranking(first place votes) Points 1. Brigham Young (12) 386 2. Georgetown 369 3. North Carolina State 358 4. Stanford 349 5. Colorado (1) 338 6. North Carolina 319 7. Yale 318 8. Boston College 286 9. Arkansas 281 10. Notre Dame 275 11. Duke 237 12. Michigan State 229 13. Northern Arizona 221 14. Providence 216 15. UCLA 201 16. Virginia 165 17. Minnesota 150 18. Colorado State 145 19. Arizona State 142 20. Marquette 140 21. Texas A&M 129 22. Villanova 123 23. Cornell 117 24. Georgia Tech 102 25. Arizona 77 26. Columbia 71 27. Toledo 48 28. Southwest Missouri St. 43 29. James Madison 34 30. Weber State 28 Other Teams Also Receiving Votes: Penn State 24, Wisconsin 24, Washington 23, South Florida 20, Boston Univ. 19, Baylor 9, Oklahoma State 9, William & Mary 5, LaSalle 4, Texas 4, UC-Santa Barbara 4, Tennessee 2, Michigan 1.
Players Mentioned
