The league's head cross country coaches have completed their preseason coaches poll balloting and have chosen the Cal Poly men's contingent and the UC Riverside women's squad as the favorites heading into the 2009 season.

The Mustang men, who collected 64 points and eight first place votes, were chosen as a unanimous favorite for the fourth consecutive season and will seek their record seventh-consecutive crown. UC Santa Barbara was second in the poll with 50 points, narrowly edging out UC Riverside which finished third with 49 points. Fourth place belonged to UC Davis with 42 tallies, while Long Beach State and UC Irvine followed in fifth and sixth place with 32 and 25 points, respectively. Cal State Fullerton (18) and Cal State Northridge (8) rounded out the 2009 edition of the men’s preseason poll.

UC Riverside finished atop one of the closest women's preseason polls in recent history with 70 points, which included four first place votes. The Highlanders narrowly edged out UC Davis (68 pts., two first place votes) and Cal Poly (66 pts., two first place votes) in what could be a glimpse into the Championships in October. Cal State Fullerton also could stake its claim as the Titans finished with a first place vote and 54 points for fourth place, while UC Santa Barbara (48) and UC Irvine (39) were fifth and sixth, respectively. Long Beach State came in seventh with 33 tallies, while Cal State Northridge (17) and Pacific (10) wrapped up the final two positions in the women’s preseason poll.

Cal Poly's hopes for championship #7 rests in the hands of a slew of talented performers. Headlining the returnees is 2008 Big West individual champion Daniel Gonia, who blistered the field with a 13-second margin of victory in Riverside year ago. Gonia is joined by familar faces in the Mustang lineup as Evan Anderson, Carl Dargitz, Joe Gatel, Jeff Lease and Brandon Shrick also return. In all, Cal Poly returns six runners who finished in the top 18 of the 2008 Championships, including four of the top five finishers of a year ago.

UC Santa Barbara's hopes of stopping the Cal Poly streak start with the talented senior trio of Scott Smith, Julian DeRubira and Waleed Totari. The Gaucho runners were all top 10 finishers at the conference meet a year ago, led by Smith who put forth a third-place performance. UCSB will need runners such as Erik Aardal, the talented Charles Maginnis and its host of young athletes to break through to end the Mustang stranglehold on first place in the conference. UCSB will be hard pressed by UC Riverside as well as the Highlanders return a talented team led by Chad Hall, Daniel Lindstrom and a slew of talented newcomers.

The UC Riverside women completed a transformation from last place six years ago to the top of the mountain in '08, but will be hard pressed to repeat the feat with heavy losses due to graduation. The Highlanders return top-20 finisher Ashleigh Pratt as well as Margaret Sitker, but the squad also boasts an impressive array of newcomers led by Katy Daly, Damajeria Dubose and Jzsanette Lindstrom. With the talents of the rookies as well as the maturation of the runners in the program, head coach Irv Ray’s club will be a tough side to compete against this season and beyond.

UC Davis is one of the top competitors in the Big West despite being in just its third season of DI competition. The Aggies lost two NCAA Championship competitors in Kim Conley and Kaitlin Gregg, but return top 20 finishers in Krista Drechsler and Caitlin Fitzgerald as well as Ali Stoakley and Kristin Arkin. The four returnees gives UCD four of its top six finishers from a squad that finished third at the ‘08 Championships.

Cal Poly also has designs on the Big West title thanks to the return of Bridie McCarey, Brienna Morris and Kimberly Donatelli. With that trio as well as a seasoned squad that got better and better throughout ‘08, this season could be the year of the Mustang at the Big West Championships.

Men's Cross Country Coaches Poll Results
No.    School    Pts.
1.    Cal Poly (8)    64
2.    UC Santa Barbara    50
3.    UC Riverside    49
4.    UC Davis    42
6.    Long Beach State    32
5.    UC Irvine    25
7.    Cal State Fullerton    18
8.    Cal State Northridge    8

( ) First-place votes

Women's Cross Country Coaches Poll Results
No.    School    Pts.
1.    UC Riverside (4)    70
2.    UC Davis (2)    68
3.    Cal Poly (2)    66
4.    Cal State Fullerton    54
5.    UC Santa Barbara    48
6.    UC Irvine    39
7.    Long Beach State    33
8.    Cal State Northridge    17
9.    Pacific    10

( ) First-place votes