COLUMBUS – With the start of the season less than two weeks away, the Columbus State University men’s and women’s cross country teams were voted second and sixth, respectively in the Peach Belt Conference preseason poll.
The Columbus State men received three first-place votes, totaling 40 points overall in second. Flagler (43) tops the preseason poll with Augusta (39), UNC Pembroke (38) and Georgia College (24) rounding out the top five.
The Cougars return 10 runners from last year’s team, including seven of the nine runners that competed at the PBC Championship. CSU also added Tim Asis, a transfer from Young Harris who won the 2016 PBC Individual title and was named the conference’s Runner of the Year.
The CSU women tallied votes ranging from fourth to seventh place, for a total of 55 points. North Georgia is the unanimous preseason favorite, followed by Augusta (88), Flagler (82), UNC Pembroke (68) and Georgia College (67).
The Lady Cougars bring back six runners from last season, four of which ran in the conference championship.
Both teams will take to the course for the first time on Friday, Sept. 1 at the Strut’s Season Opener hosted by Jacksonville State in Oxford, Ala.COURTESY CSU SPORTS INFORMATION
