Tweet

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Virginia Tech men’s cross country team was picked to finish fourth in the ACC, while the women’s squad was picked to come in eighth in a preseason poll conducted among the ACC’s 15 head coaches and released on Wednesday.

Two-time defending ACC men’s champion Syracuse and the Notre Dame women’s team were picked to win the ACC title this season. The Orangemen, which captured the 2013 and 2014 ACC men’s titles in their first two years as a conference member, were a near-unanimous first-place selection. Virginia placed second, followed by NC State, the Hokies and Florida State.

Notre Dame edged out NC State by a single point to finish atop the ACC preseason women’s poll. Virginia placed third, followed by defending champion North Carolina and Florida State. The Syracuse women placed sixth, followed by Boston College, the Hokies, Wake Forest and Duke.

Both Hokie squads finished in sixth place at the ACC Championships last fall.

The ACC is well-represented in the USTFCCCA coaches’ preseason polls released Tuesday, with four men’s teams ranked among the top 30 and six women’s teams represented. Syracuse leads conference teams in the men’s poll with a No. 3 national ranking. Virginia is ranked ninth, followed by North Carolina at No. 19 and Florida State at No. 27. NC State and Virginia Tech received votes.

The Tech men’s team was ranked sixth in the Southeast Region of the poll, while the women’s team was ranked ninth. A year ago, the Tech women’s team finished fourth at the Southeast Regional and received an at-large berth to the NCAA Championships, marking just the second NCAA berth in the program’s history.

The Tech men will be led this season by Thomas Curtin, who finished second at the 2013 ACC Championships but took a redshirt season a year ago. Also, experienced runners Darren Barlow, Stuart Robertson, Neil Gourley and Patrick Joseph return. Shannon Morton and Hanna Green will lead the women’s team, which lost seven seniors. Morton came in 19^th at the NCAA Southeast Regional and 32^nd at the ACC meet last season.

Both teams open the 2015 season on Friday at the Hokie Invite held at the Buford Meredith Cross Country Course on Tech’s campus. Action starts at 6 p.m.

2015 ACC CROSS COUNTRY PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL

MEN

1. Syracuse

2. Virginia

3. NC State

4. Virginia Tech

5. Florida State

6. Louisville

7. North Carolina

8. Notre Dame

9. Duke

10. Clemson

11. Wake Forest

12. Georgia Tech

13. Boston College

14. Pitt

15. Miami

WOMEN

1. Notre Dame

2. NC State

3. Virginia

4. North Carolina

5. Florida State

6. Syracuse

7. Boston College

8. Virginia Tech

9. Wake Forest

10. Duke

11. Louisville

12. Georgia Tech

13. Clemson

14. Pitt

15. Miami

For updates on Virginia Tech cross country, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_Track