In the annual Mountain West cross-country coaches' preseason poll, Utah State's women's team was picked third with 78 points, as announced on Thursday by the conference office. It's the highest the Aggie women have been picked to finish since joining the league. USU's men's team was picked to finish fourth with 31 points.
"That's where we finished last season, but both teams will do their best to improve on those finishes and surpass where we are picked to finish this year," said head coach Artie Gulden.
On the women's side, New Mexico, the 10-time defending MW champions, nearly swept the first-place votes, gathering nine of the 11 for 99 points to be picked first.