2023 RSC Women's Cross Country Coaches' Preseason Poll
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- The 2023 River States Conference Women's Cross Country Coaches' Preseason Poll has Point Park (Pa.) University on top as the favorite to win the conference. The Pioneers are the defending RSC champions and received 11 of the 13 first-place votes in the polling of league head coaches.
Point Park received 141 total votes in the preseason poll. The Pioneers have won five of the last eight RSC titles. Point Park got back on top of the conference in 2022, their first time doing that since winning three in a row from 2017-19.
Indiana University Kokomo was picked second in the poll with 121 votes, which was just ahead of last year's conference runner-up St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) College in third with 120. IU Kokomo placed third in last year's RSC meet.
University of Rio Grande (Ohio) placed fourth in the poll with 113 votes and one of the remaining first-place votes. Indiana University East also garnered a first-place vote in fifth place overall with 103 votes. Both of those teams start the year where they finished last year.
RSC newcomer Shawnee State (Ohio) was voted sixth in the poll with 97 votes. Starting with Midway (Ky.) in sixth, the next five teams in the poll kept the same order as last year's finish. There are 13 teams in RSC cross country this year, which is up from the 10 that competed in the 2022 conference championship.
2023 RIVER STATES CONFERENCE WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY COACHES PRESEASON POLL (AUG. 21)
(First-Place Votes in Parenthesis)
| School |
Votes |
| 1. Point Park (Pa.) (11) |
141 |
| 2. IU Kokomo |
121 |
| 3. St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) |
120 |
| 4. Rio Grande (Ohio) (1) |
113 |
| 5. IU East (1) |
103 |
| 6. Shawnee State (Ohio) |
97 |
| 7. Midway (Ky.) |
80 |
| 8. Oakland City (Ind.) |
62 |
| 9. WVU Tech |
53 |
| 10. Ohio Christian |
45 |
| 11. Alice Lloyd (Ky.) |
34 |
| 12. Brescia (Ky.) |
29 |
| 13. IUPUC |
16 |