2021 WCC CROSS COUNTRY ALMANAC | 2021 USTFCCA PRESEASON POLL
 
SAN MATEO, Calif. – Defending NCAA team champion BYU was the unanimous choice to win the program’s fifth West Coast Conference Women’s Cross Country Championship and fourth straight in the annual preseason poll.  The preseason poll and the All-WCC team were selected solely by a vote of the conference’s 10 head coaches. Coaches cannot vote for their own teams and student-athletes.
 
BYU captured the program’s fifth NCAA Team Championship in the 2020-21 spring season, captured its third straight WCC title in the 2020-21, scoring 28 points at Craig Ranch Park in Las Vegas. Four Cougars finished in the top-seven finishers The Cougars earned a perfect preseason score with 81 points, including the maximum nine first-place votes, and placed six on the preseason All-WCC squad.
 
Portland was picked second with 72 points, including the remaining first-place vote, narrowly edging San Francisco in third place with 71 points. Paced by 2020-21 WCC Individual Champion Anna Pataki, the Pilots qualified for the 2020 NCAA Nationals. It was the third trip to the NCAA Championship for Portland. The Dons also advanced to the national meet for the fifth time in program history.
 
Gonzaga was picked fourth with 58 points, followed by San Diego in fifth with 43 points. Santa Clara was tabbed sixth with 40 points in the survey.
 
The 2021 WCC Cross Country Men’s and Women’s Championship will be held Friday, October 29 at Newhall Community Park in Concord, Calif.
 
NATIONAL RANKING NOTES
BYU enters the 2021 Fall Season ranked No. 1 in the preseason USTFCCA national poll. Portland (25 votes) and San Francisco (7) are in the “Also Receiving Votes” category. The Cougars are rated first in the Mountain Region while the Pilots are sixth, San Francisco is seventh and Gonzaga is ninth in the West.
 
ALL-WCC PRESEASON TEAM NOTES

• Defending WCC Individual Champion Anna Pataki (Portland) headlines no fewer than four returning All-Americans from 2020-21
  • Anna Camp-Bennett, BYU
  • Aubrey Frentheway, BYU
  • Sara Musselman, BYU
• Seven student-athletes finished in the top-10 at the 2020-21 WCC Championship to earn first team honors
• Three student-athletes finished between 11-15th place at the 2020-21 WCC Championship to secure second team honors
• All but one spot on the preseason All-WCC squad was claimed by a 2020-21 NCAA Nationals participant
• Only four programs earned All-WCC selections, led by six from BYU and two each from Gonzaga and San Francisco

 
 
 
2021 WCC Women’s Cross Country Preseason Poll

Place	Team	First Place	Points
1.	BYU	9	81
2.	Portland	1	72
3.	San Francisco		71
4.	Gonzaga		58
5.	San Diego		43
6.	Santa Clara		40
7.	Saint Mary’s		36
8.	LMU		23
9.	Pacific		15
10.	Pepperdine		11

 

2021 Women’s Cross Country Preseason All-WCC Team
Name	Institution	Yr.
Anna Camp-Bennett	BYU	Sr.
Aubrey Frentheway	BYU	Jr.
Kristen Garcia	Gonzaga	Jr.
Lauren Haas	Gonzaga	Jr.
Eve Jensen	San Francisco	So.
McKenna Lee Hansen	BYU	Sr.
Anna Martin	BYU	So.
Sarah Musselman	BYU	Sr.
Whittni Orton	BYU	Sr.
Anna Pataki	Portland	Sr.
Zoe Wassell	San Francisco	Sr.