PROVO, Utah -- After polling all nine men's cross country coaches in the conference, the West Coast Conference announced BYU is the pre-season favorite to win the conference championship.
The Cougars earned seven first-place votes and 63 points overall in the preseason poll. The University of Portland ranked second with two first-place votes, followed by the University of San Francisco in third and Gonzaga in fourth.
BYU also led the conference with five runners named to the Preseason All-West Coast Conference team.
Last year, the Cougars' inaugural season in the WCC, the team won their first WCC cross country championship.
2012 WEST COAST CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL | |
|---|---|
| TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
1. BYU (7) | 63 |
2. Portland (2) | 58 |
3. San Francisco | 45 |
4. Gonzaga | 41 |
T5. Loyola Marymount | 36 |
T5. Santa Clara | 36 |
7. Saint Mary's | 19 |
8. San Diego | 18 |
9. Pepperdine | 8 |
2012 PRESEASON ALL-WEST COAST CONFERENCE TEAM | ||
|---|---|---|
RUNNER | SCHOOL | YEAR |
Jared Bassett | Portland | Senior |
Ben Demaree | Santa Clara | Junior |
Scott Fauble | Portland | Sophomore |
BYU | Sophomore | |
Lars Erik Malde | Portland | Senior |
David Perry | Portland | Sophomore |
BYU | Senior | |
BYU | Junior | |
BYU | Junior | |
BYU | Junior | |