ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop women's cross country team has been picked to finish seventh in the 2015 Big South Conference preseason poll by the league's head coaches.  Coach Ben Paxton returns runners from last year's squad and has added four newcomers. 
 
Defending Big South champion High Point has been voted the favorite as the Panthers nosed out Liberty by one point in the voting. High Point collected six first-place votes and 109 points in the voting to repeat in 2015.  Liberty tallied two first-place votes and 108 points to finish second in the voting, while Coastal Carolina was third with 105 points and received the remaining three first-place votes.
 
Campbell finished fourth in the poll with 84 points, just ahead of UNC Asheville, which finished fifth with 76 points.  Radford claimed sixth place with 71 points, followed by Winthrop in seventh (57 points), Gardner-Webb in eighth (44 points) and Longwood in ninth (30 points).  Charleston Southern was voted 10th with 28 points, while Presbyterian College rounded out the poll in 11th with 14 points.
 
Winthrop opens the 2015 campaign on Friday, Sept. 4 when it hosts the Winthrop Early Season Challenge at the Winthrop Farm course. The Eagles will also host the 32^nd annual Winthrop Invitational on Sept. 19.
 
The 2015 Big South Women's Cross Country Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting is slated for Saturday, Oct. 31, in Spartanburg, SC.
 
2015 Big South Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll
 
Rk   Team (first-place votes)                1          2          3          4          5          6          7          8          9       10       11    Points
1.     High Point (6)                                6          3         --          1         --         --          1         --         --            --         --     109
2.     Liberty (2)                                     2          5          4         --         --         --         --         --         --             --         --     108
3.     Coastal Carolina (3)                       3          2          5         --          1         --         --         --         --            --         --      105
4.     Campbell                                      --         --          1          5          5         --         --         --         --            --         --        84
5.     UNC Asheville                               --         --         --          4           3         3          1         --         --           --         --        76
6.     Radford                                        --          1          1         --           2         3          4         --         --           --         --        71
7.     Winthrop                                     --         --         --          1         --           4          3          2         --           1         --        57
8.     Gardner-Webb                               --         --         --         --         --           --          2          7          2          --         --        44
9.     Longwood                                     --         --         --         --         --            --         --          1          6           4         --       30
10.  Charleston Southern                       --         --         --         --         --            1         --          1           3           3          3       28
11.  Presbyterian College                       --         --         --         --         --           --         --         --         --              3          8       14