Complete Rankings
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- After winning its first team title of the season at the USC Upstate Invitational Saturday, the Davidson Wildcat cross country team has been ranked 15th in the Southeast region in the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association's last poll.
The Wildcats enter the poll after a first-place team finish at USC Upstate, where all five of Davidson's scorers finished in the top 15 in the field of 101. Davidson amassed just 36 points with three Wildcats finishing in the top five. Freshman
Natalie Atabek was the team's top finisher, placing third with a time of 18:53. She was followed immediately by junior Lauren Childs (4th, 18:57) and classmate Heather Conarroe (5th, 19:01), while junior
Danielle Ruggieri (9th, 19:12) and classmate
Sarah Cline (15th, 19:32) rounded out the Davidson scoring.
Davidson also has a pair of runner-up finishes and an 11th-place finish to their credit this season. The Wildcats finished second at both the USC Upstate Eye Opener on Sept. 5 and the Winthrop Invitational on Sept. 19 and placed 11th out of 38 teams at the Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic Oct. 3.
Four ACC teams sit atop the Southeast regional rankings with the Virginia Cavaliers followed by Duke, North Carolina and NC State. William & Mary rounds out the top five, ahead of Kentucky, James Madison, Western Kentucky and Louisville. Charlotte is ranked 10th in the region, followed by Clemson, Wake Forest, Richmond and Virginia Tech.
Davidson is one of just two Southern Conference teams featured in the rankings. Fresh off their second straight team win, Samford is ranked ninth in the South region. The Bulldogs finished first among the eight teams competing at the Troy Coach "O" Invitational Sunday in Troy, Ala., and won the Ole Miss Invitational the weekend before. Samford also finished first at the season-opening Memphis Twilight and placed fifth at Alabama's Crimson Classic Sept. 26.
The Wildcats will take the weekend off as they begin to prepare for the 2009 Southern Conference championships, set for Oct. 31 in Elon, N.C.