UMO men's, women's XC teams picked No. 1 in preseason conference polls

By UMO Media Relations
Published in Sports on August 21, 2015 1:48 PM

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UMO Media Relations

MOUNT OLIVE -- The University of Mount Olive men's and women's cross country teams are picked to win their respective Conference Carolinas championship, according to a coaches poll released Thursday.

The Trojan men, who have won the last three CC crowns, return six of seven all-conference performers. Senior Aki Kitigawa emerged as the CC runner-up and recorded a top-three finish at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional in 2014.

Kitigawa missed All-America honors by one place during the NCAA Division II national championship meet.

Also back are Pol Domenech-Ferrer, Eugeni Gil, Frederic Lang, Michael Munoz and Jacob Urys.

UMO was a unaminous No. 1 pick by the eight coaches polled.

On the women's side, the Trojans continue to seek their first-ever conference championship in program history. They've emerged as the league runners-up each of the past five seasons.

Two all-conference first-team performers return -- junior Bailee Henry and sophomore Rebecca Farnsley. Also back is Emily Shaw, who earned all-conference honors in 2013.

The Trojan received seven first-place votes in the poll.

UMO launches its 2015 campaign Sept. 12 at the Phoenix Invitational, which is hosted by Elon University.