Posted: 2:54 PM Aug 16, 2012
Reporter: Staff

Thursday August 16, 2012

AUGUSTA, Ga. – One year after winning its first Peach Belt Conference men’s cross country championship, the Augusta State Jaguars have been chosen as the preseason team to beat in a poll of the league’s head coaches released on Thursday.

The Jaguars received eight of a possible nine first-place votes to finish with 80 points in the poll, 13 ahead of second-place Columbus State. UNC Pembroke was third in the voting with Clayton State in fourth. Flagler, Georgia College, Montevallo, newcomer Young Harris, Francis Marion and Armstrong Atlantic State rounded out the voting. Teams were given nine points for a first-place vote, eight for a second-place and so on. Coaches were not permitted to rank their own teams.

Reinstated in 2010, the Augusta State men’s cross country program won a close PBC Championship in 2011 with all seven of ASU’s runners finishing in the top half of the field. All seven of those runners return for 2012 including junior Dustin Ross, who was fourth at the PBC and 18th at the NCAA Southeast Regional. Sophomore Jaiden Brandt finished seventh at the PBC Championships while junior Robert Blackwelder was 11th and junior Matt Johnson was 12th. Despite the experience of having all runners returning from last year, the Jaguars have only one senior on the 2012 squad.

Columbus State saw its magical run of five straight PBC titles come to an end last year, but hope to rebound in 2012 with eight returning runners from last year’s team. Junior Ian Edwards was the first Cougar to cross the line in four meets last year while senior Andy Henderson led the team at the PBC Championships with a 10th-place finish.

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