Nashville, Tenn. - The Vanderbilt women's cross country team opens the 2012 season ranked sixth nationally by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association, marking the first time in program history the team has been ranked in the preseason coaches' poll.
The Commodores captured their first-ever Southeastern Conference championship last fall and return three All-SEC performers (Liz Anderson, Jordan White and Kristen Smith) along with three SEC All-Freshman runners (Grace Orders, Rebecca Chandler and Amira Joseph) this season. The league's coaches have already tabbed the Dores as the team to beat, voting Vanderbilt as the preseason favorite to repeat as SEC champs.
"It's nice that our program is getting recognized as we've worked hard these last few years to get to this level," Vanderbilt Head Coach Steve Keith said. "We lost a couple of key runners but we've also had some solid development throughout last spring's track season and recruiting went well so the women are very excited to get things going."
The Oregon Ducks own the top spot in the USTFCCCA poll with Washington, Georgetown, Florida State and Iowa State rounding out the top five ahead of the Dores.
The Commodores will carry their ranking into the Belmont Opener at Percy Warner Park this Friday in the team's first race of the season.
"Friday we will run a younger group of primarily freshmen and sophomores to give them an early race and a chance to carry the load," Keith said.
The women's 4K race is slotted for 5:30 p.m. with the men's 5K race to follow.