Cross Country Picked Eighth in GAC Preseason Poll

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern cross country heads into the 2023 season picked to finish eighth according to the Great American Conference Preseason Poll released on Thursday.
 
The Savage Storm enter the year under new head coach Dr. Stephanie Heald and picked up 53 points in the poll to match the eighth-place finish the team posted in the GAC Championship meet in Shawnee, Okla., to close out last season.
 
That point total is seven points behind Southern Nazarene who was picked seventh, while finishing 14 points ahead of Southwestern Oklahoma State in ninth place.
 
Northwestern Oklahoma State followed in 10^th, with Henderson State and Arkansas-Monticello rounding out the poll.
 
Ouachita Baptist was picked to repeat as atop the GAC with 11 of the 12 first-place votes, while Oklahoma Baptist was picked second with the remaining first place nod.
 
Arkansas Tech checked in third, followed by Harding, East Central, and Southern Nazarene.
 
SE returns four of its top five finishers from the GAC championship meet a season ago.
 
Sarah Coblentz paced that group of returners at the GAC meet and was joined by Devyn Doakes, Alexis Longoria, and Arden Kesterson who rounded out the five Storm scorers in the meet.
 
Longoria and Coblentz each posted sub-20 minute runs a season ago, with Longoria turning in a season-best 19:55.2.
 
Southeastern will open the 2023 season Sept. 7 with the Midwestern State Open in Wichita Falls, Texas.