TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -  With less than a week to go before the start of the 2018 cross country season, both the Indiana State men's and women's cross country teams appear in the USTFCCCA Preseason Regional Rankings, the coaches association announced Monday afternoon.
 
The Great Lakes Region is consistently one of the toughest regions in the nation, and the Sycamore men will enter the season ranked No. 11 while the women enter at the No. 12 position. The USTFCCA Regional Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning teams' strength with current season results (if applicable) in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships.
 
"We are excited to enter the 2018 cross country season with the men and women regionally ranked. The Great Lakes Region has a strong history of qualifying a large number of teams to the NCAA Championship," associate head coach for cross country Kyle Walsh said.
 
Indiana State will host the NCAA Great Lakes Region Meet on November 9 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
 
The Sycamore men return two top-100 runners from last year where they finished 18th in the region. Akis Medrano led the way for the men with a 57th place finish with a time of 32:15.10 and Isaac Bentz finished behind Medrano in 97th with a time of 33:05.20. As a whole, ISU also returns three All-MVC honorees from a year ago in Medrano, Blake Kramer and Quentin Pierce. The men were picked to finish third in the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll.
 
"The men had a letdown at this meet last year following an exceptional conference meet tying Bradley for MVC Championship," Walsh said. "Placing 2nd due to a tie breaker left a sour taste in our mouths and the guys came out too aggressive in the NCAA Regional 10k and faded hard the final kilometers.  We have strong firepower up front returning four of the top five from last year's squad with outdoor 10k champ Akis Medrano leading the way. Quentin, Ryan Cash, and Cam Trout all scored big points in the track season and will look to lead this team back where we want to be among the top 10 teams in the Great Lakes Region."
 
Entering 12th in the Great Lakes Region, the Sycamore women hope to build on the momentum that they gained at the regional meet last season when they finished 13th overall with 376 team points, which was the program's best score since 2001. In addition to Brooke Moore returning, Indiana State returns three top-100 runners from the regional in 2017. Alli Workman led the pack in 65th (21:49.60), followed by Megan Doty in 83rd (22:10.80) and Jessi Conley in 97th (22:28.50). The Sycamore women were also picked to finish third in the MVC Preseason Poll.
 
"The women's 13th place finish last year was our best team finish since our first year in the Great Lakes Region in 1997.  The ladies raced extremely well on our home course and will be excited to enter this season ranked 12th.  We have big shoes to fill with Taylor Austin graduating but we return Brooke Moore from her redshirt season and the rest of the varsity lineup returns.  Nobody will be surprised to see us shooting for a top 15 spot because I think we could realistically push for top 10 at the Great Lakes Regional for the first time in school history.  Juniors Colleen Madden, Alli Workman, and Michaela Ward put in a great summer of work and we will see how much we've improved as the season progresses this fall," Walsh said.
 
The 2018 season begins this Friday, August 31 as the Sycamores head to Oxford, Ohio for the Miami Opener. The women's 6K race is slated to begin at 3:20 p.m. ET with the men's 8K race to follow at 4:00 p.m.
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Cross Country teams, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.