SAN BRUNO, Calif. – No. 6 BYU was unanimously picked to defend its West Coast Conference Championship in the annual preseason survey of the 10 conference coaches. After posting a seventh-place finish at the 2018 NCAA Nationals, BYU claimed a perfect score of 81 points, edging Portland with 69 points and the remaining first-place vote.
 
The Cougars and earned a No. 6 ranking in the USFTCCCA preseason national poll the best for the program in 13 years after entering the 2018 season No. 16. BYU is ranked third in the highly competitive Mountain Region behind No. 1 New Mexico and defending NCAA Champion No. 2 Colorado. The Pilots are rated No. 10 in the West, one spot behind San Francisco in ninth. The Pilots and Dons were separated by one point in the WCC preseason survey.
 
BYU dominated the preseason All-WCC squad claiming six of 10 spots, while LMU, Pacific, Portland and San Francisco each place one on the list. The Cougars return a pair of All-Americans – defending WCC individual champion Erica Birk-Jarvis and Courtney Wayment, who placed seventh and 23rd at NCAA Nationals a year ago.
 
The 2019 WCC Women’s Cross Country Preseason Poll and All-WCC team is selected solely by the 10 conference head coaches.
 
The 2019 WCC Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships are set for Friday, November 1 at the Woodley Lakes Golf Course in Van Nuys, Calif.
 
2019 WCC Women’s Cross Country Coaches Poll

Team (First Place)	Pts.
1. No. 6 BYU (9)	81
2. Portland (1)	69
3. San Francisco	68
4. LMU	50
5. Saint Mary’s	46
6. Gonzaga	39
7. San Diego	35
8. Santa Clara	32
9. Pacific	19
10. Pepperdine	11

 
2019 All-WCC Women’s Cross Country Preseason Team

Name	Institution	Yr.
Erica Birk-Jarvis	BYU	Sr.
Anna Camp-Bennett	BYU	Jr.
Lacey Conner	Portland	Jr.
Aubrey Frentheway	BYU	So.
Jasmine Gonzalez	Pacific	Sr.
Olivia Hoj	BYU	Sr.
Sara Musselman	BYU	Jr.
Aoibhe Richardson	San Francisco	Grad.
Maddi Vorgitch	LMU	Sr.
Courtney Wayment	BYU	Sr.

  
WCC CROSS COUNTRY 2018 NCAA NATIONALS HIGHLIGHTS

• All four competing WCC teams earned a top-15 finish: No. 9 BYU women (7^th), No. 2 BYU men (2^nd), No. 4 Portland men (3^rd) and No. 23 Portland women (12^th)
• BYU women posted its best team finish since 2003 with a seventh-place spot
• WCC champion Erica Birk-Jarvis of BYU broke the tape in seventh for just the second BYU top-10 runner at NCAA’s since 2011
• This is the first time in BYU history that both the men’s (national runner-ups) and women’s teams have finished in the top seven at the NCAA Championships
• Portland’s 12^th-place finish in Madison was its best team finish at the NCAA Championships in women’s program history
• Four women’s runners earned All-American honors: Erica Birk Jarvis, BYU (7^th/19:58.05); Lauren LaRocco, Portland, (13^th/20:05.02); Courtney Wayment, BYU (23^rd/20:20.53) and Taryn Rawlings, Portland (26^th/20:27.37) 
• LaRocco posted the best individual women’s finish in Pilot history, going 13^th