The Dordt University women’s cross country team opens the 2022 season ranked eighth in the NAIA Preseason Coaches’ poll released by the national office earlier today.
Coming off a 2021 season where the Defenders won their second consecutive GPAC Championship and eighth place at the NAIA National Championship, Dordt totaled 444 points and occupies the eighth spot in the initial ranking of the 2022 season. They are just one point in back of College of Idaho and 18 points behind The Master’s (Calif.).
Milligan (Tenn.), the 2021 national champion, is ranked first and accumulated 551 points, 16 in front of St.Francis (Ill.). Cornerstone (Mich.), Taylor (Ind.) and Saint Mary (Kan.) round out the top five teams.
Dordt returns seven of its top 10 runners from a 2021 team that won its second consecutive and eighth conference title over the last 10 years. Jessica Kampman returns after earning All-American the last two seasons and was the 2021 individual runner-up at the GPAC Championship. Taylor Anema, the 2020 GPAC Individual Champion and two-time all-conference runner, is back for her junior year. Margaret Myskowski, Anika Homan, Bethany Ten Haken, Lucy Borkowski and Elyse Kuperus also return after being part of the Defenders top seven last year. Dordt also picked up graduate transfer, Kristine Honomichl, from Morningside who earned all-conference honors the last two years for the Mustangs.
The Defenders are under the direction of head coach Nate Wolf who begins his eighth season in charge of the program. They will open the season on Sept.9 in Brookings, S.D.
1 Milligan (Tenn.)
2 St. Francis (Ill.)
3 Cornerstone (Mich.)
4 Taylor (Ind.)
5 Saint Mary (Kan.)
6 The Master’s (Calif.)
7 College of Idaho
9 Grace (Ind.)
10 Indiana Wesleyan
11 Aquinas (Mich.)
12 Westmont (Calif.)
13 Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)
14 Carroll (Mont.)
15 Oklahoma City
16 Southern Oregon
17 Montreat (N.C.)
18 Indiana Tech
20 Saint Francis (Ind.)
21 Huntington (Ind.)
22 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)
23 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)
24 Montana Tech
25 Benedictine (Kan.)
Receiving Votes:Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 99, Concordia (Neb.) 87, Cumberlands (Ky.) 63, Marian (Ind.) 55, Dalton State (Ga.) 31, Vanguard (Calif.) 30, William Woods (Mo.) 28, SCAD Savannah (Ga.) 15, Goshen (Ind.) 5, Campbellsville (Ky.) 4, Texas Wesleyan 3
