AMERICUS, Ga. -- The Georgia Southwestern women's cross country team enters its 2017 season picked to finish eighth of 11 teams in the Peach Belt Conference according to the coaches' preseason poll released today.
GSW received five seventh-place votes (up four from last year), fourth eighth-place votes and one ninth-place vote en route to earning 34 points, five points behind seventh place Clayton State. North Georgia holds the top spot in the 2017 poll, followed by Augusta and Flagler College.
The Lady Hurricanes return four of their top five runners from a year ago, including senior Ashleigh Owens, who holds three of the eight fastest 5K times in program history and led GSW at the conference championships last fall. Junior Katherine McGarr turned in a pair of Top 10 finishes in 2016 and has the ninth-fastest 5K time in school history. Sophomore Connie Lewis was the Lady Hurricanes No. 4 runner at the conference championships and junior Savannah Ross was only two slots behind Lewis in the final results.
GSW opens its 2017 schedule on Sept. 1 at the Valdosta State University Border Clash in Valdosta, Ga. Race time is 5:30 p.m.
The full coaches' poll is below. Coaches were not permitted to rank their own teams.
2017 PBC Women's Cross Country
Preseason Coaches Poll
| Rank | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Total |
| 1. | North Georgia | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| 2. | Augusta | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 88 |
| 3. | Flagler | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 82 |
| 4. | UNC Pembroke | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68 |
| 5. | Georgia College | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 |
| 6. | Columbus State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55 |
| 7. | Clayton State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 49 |
| 8. | Georgia Southwestern | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 34 |
| 9. | Francis Marion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 23 |
| 10. | Lander | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 21 |
| 11. | USC Aiken | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 18 |