NAU Still In the Pole Position In NCAA Men's Cross

By Adam Schneider of DyeStat 

Northern Arizona remains at the pinnacle of NCAA Division 1 men’s cross country and will open the 2018 season with its top three runners from the 2017 championship team, and five of the top six, back in uniform. 

The talented duo of Matthew Baxter (second in 2017) and Tyler Day (third) give the Lumberjacks firepower up front, along with Peter Lomong, who was eighth. The program will also add the top incoming American freshman in Brodey Hasty. 

Second-ranked BYU was dominant much of the season (scored a perfect 15 at the WCC Championships). The Cougars return four of their top five and five of their top seven. This team needs to come to terms with what went wrong at nationals last year, but there is too much talent to ignore. 

Portland was second at nationals last year and ranked third for now. Coach Rob Conner returns two of his top four and five of the top seven. No. 7 runner Noah Schutte (148th) ran 28:34 outdoors for 10,000 meters, but his past track success (12th in the 2017 NCAA steeplechase) shows he has big potential for improvement. 

Stanford is ranked fourth and has a mature team led by senior Grant Fisher, one of the individual title threats. He has finished fifth the past two seasons. Senior Steven Fahy was 17th last year and junior Alex Ostberg was 16th, but is coming back from a spring injury.  

Iowa State will challenge for a trophy this year and opens the season ranked No. 5 after taking seventh last year in Louisville. The Cyclones return their top seven and added junior Edwin Kurgat (21st for Tennessee-Martin last year). 

Preseason Top 20 (2017 NCAA finish) 

1. Northern Arizona (1)

2. BYU (3)

3. Portland (2)

4. Stanford (4)

5. Iowa State (7)

6. Colorado (8)

7. Alabama (14)

8. Oregon (6)

9. Wisconsin (N/A)

10. Colorado State (9)

11. Southern Utah (11)

12. Washington (22)

13. Boise State (19)

14. Arkansas (5)

15. Campbell (N/A)

16. Middle Tennessee State (23)

17. Syracuse (13)

18. Washington State (24)

19. UCLA (21)

20. North Carolina State (17)

Watch List:

Virginia

Illinois

Michigan

Air Force

Texas

Furman

Oklahoma State

Iona

North Carolina-Charlotte

Princeton

Indiana