Women's Cross Country Picked First in NEC Preseason Coaches Poll
The five-time defending champions were picked to defend their title.
The Central Connecticut women's cross country team, the five-time defending Northeast Conference champions, were tabbed the favorite in the Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll on Tuesday. The Blue Devils received four first-place votes in the poll, edging out Stonehill.
Four-time NEC Coach of the Year Eric Blake will be looking to guide the Blue Devils to their eighth championship overall, which would tie Quinnipiac's all-time mark. Three key Blue Devils return this fall in Brooke Morabito, Meghan Desmarais, and Rebecca Carusone. Morabito is a three-time All-NEC honoree who finished third at the 2022 NEC meet, clocking in at 18:02.6. Desmarais earned All-NEC status in her rookie season after she placed 14th with a time of 18:49.8. Carusone finished in 18:50.9 to place 15th.
The Blue Devils secured four first-place votes, edging out Stonehill's three first place nods. The two programs battled to a dead heat at last year's NEC Championship with 47 points apiece, but CCSU was awarded the tiebreaker over the first-year NEC program based on head-to-head comparisons among each team's first five respective finishers. LIU was picked third and had one first-place votes.
Central will open the season at LIU on September 9. The 2023 NEC Cross Country Championship is scheduled for October 28 and will be hosted by LIU. All nine NEC institutions are eligible to participate in the championship.