USTFCCCA rankings:
http://www.ustfccca.org/team-rankings-polls-central
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – The defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion Notre Dame men and NC State women maintained high marks in the USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Cross Country Preseason Polls released Tuesday.
The Fighting Irish and Wolfpack are both coming off runner-up team finishes in last season’s NCAA Championships, and each is ranked second nationally this preseason. Notre Dame’s men received one first-place vote and amassed 308 team points to place just behind defending national champion Northern Arizona (328).
The women’s preseason rankings are even tighter, with NC State picking up two first-place votes and totaling 318 total points, just four behind top-ranked defending champion BYU's 322.
Notre Dame leads a group of four ACC men’s teams among the USTFCCCA preseason top 30. Wake Forest claimed the No. 15 spot, followed by No. 23 Duke. The NC State men tied for 28th in the balloting.
Syracuse, Florida State and Virginia also received votes in the men’s poll.
NC State’s women are followed by No. 13 North Carolina, No. 18 Florida State, No. 19 Notre Dame and No. 25 Georgia Tech.
Duke and Syracuse were among the additional ACC women’s teams receiving votes.
Notre Dame’s men return six All-Americans from last season’s record-setting squad, including reigning ACC Runner of the Year Yared Nuguse and Danny Kilrea, who led the Irish at the NCAA finals with a 10th-place 10k time of 30:11.5.
Other notable ACC returnees include Florida State’s Adriaan Wildschutt, whose silver medal time of 29:48.2 at last season’s NCAA Nationals marked the best finish for an ACC runner since Syracuse’s Justyn Knight had the league’s only first-place finish to date in 2017. Wake Forest will be led by senior Zach Facioni, who also bagged men’s All-America honors with a 27th-place finish.
In addition to 2020 ACC Runner of the Year Hannah Steelman, the NC State women return reigning ACC champion Dominque Clairmonte, NCAA top-10 finisher Kelsey Chmiel and All-American Katelyn Tuohy.
Other returning All-Americans include Nicole Fegans of Georgia Tech, Maudie Skyring of Florida State and Paige Hofstad of North Carolina.
Notre Dame (Great Lakes) and Wake Forest (Southeast) were ranked No. 1 in the USTFCCCA regional ranking release on Monday, and NC State was ranked No. 1 in the Southeast on the women’s side. Syracuse (Northeast) and Florida State (South) were ranked No. 2 in their respective men’s regions, while the North Carolina women held the No. 2 preseason ranking in the Southeast Region.
Virginia Tech and Wake Forest are slated to open their 2021 seasons on Wednesday, and 11 more ACC schools are scheduled to see their first action over Labor Day weekend. Notre Dame is set to host the ACC Championships on Friday, Oct. 29.
The ACC will close the season in the spotlight on Nov. 20, when Florida State will host the 2021 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships. It will be the second DI NCAA National Championship hosted by FSU and the first since the 1996 women’s tennis national championships. It will mark the fifth time that the NCAA Cross Country Championships have been hosted by a current ACC school and the first since Louisville welcomed the event in 2017.
A glance at where ACC teams placed in the 2021 USTFCCCA preseason rankings:
Men’s National Rankings
2. Notre Dame (1 first-place vote)
15. Wake Forest
23. Duke
t-28. NC State
Receiving votes: Syracuse, Florida State, Virginia
Women’s National Rankings
2. NC State (2 first-place votes)
13. North Carolina
18. Florida State
19. Notre Dame
25. Georgia Tech
Receiving votes: Duke, Syracuse
Men’s Regional Rankings
1. Notre Dame (Great Lakes)
1. Wake Forest (Southeast)
2. Syracuse (Northeast)
2. Florida State (South)
3. Duke (Southeast)
5. NC State (Southeast)
6. Virginia (Southeast)
7. Pitt (Mid-Atlantic)
8. Georgia Tech (South)
8. North Carolina (Southeast)
9. Virginia Tech (Southeast)
Women’s Regional Rankings
1. NC State (Southeast)
2. North Carolina (Southeast)
3. Florida State (South)
3. Syracuse (Northeast)
4. Notre Dame (Great Lakes)
4. Boston College (Northeast)
4. Georgia Tech (South)
6. Duke (Southeast)
8. Virginia (Southeast)
9. Wake Forest (Southeast)
11. Virginia Tech (Southeast)
13. Pitt (Mid-Atlantic)