Riding the momentum from a No. 4 ranking in the most recent NCAA DI Women's Cross Country National Coaches' Poll and a record-setting performance from senior Ceili McCabe, West Virginia cross country is preparing for a trip to Texas for the Big 12 Cross Country Championship Meet on Friday, November 1st.
McCabe set the program record in the women's 6k with a personal best mark of 19 minutes, 10.80 seconds just over a week ago at the Wisconsin Pre-National Meet on October 19th. Her performance was good enough to claim fourth-overall at the meet.
The Mountaineers also claimed fourth-overall as a team at the Wisconsin meet against a field stacked to the brim with 20 top-ranked opponents. Freshman Joy Naukot also tallied a top-ten individual performance at the meet.
"Ceili again demonstrated that she is a contender in every single race that she competes in," said WVU coach Sean Cleary. "Joy was incredible out there, as she handled herself with tremendous confidence in such a great race."
That performance was the catalyst for the team to jump to No. 4 in the most recent ranking after sitting at No. 28 just a few weeks prior -- it marks first time the program has achieved this high of a ranking since 2008.
"We have two weeks until the Big 12, four until the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals and six until we hope to be back here in Wisconsin. We will utilize this time to get ourselves prepared for what is next to come," Cleary said.
This year's conference championship will be hosted by Baylor at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco, Texas. Action is set to begin at 11 A.M. on Friday, with fans able to catch the action on ESPN+.