Milwaukee City Wire

The Milwaukee women's cross country team has been selected to finish fifth in the Horizon League preseason poll, while the men's team is projected to place seventh.

The women's squad received 82 votes in the poll. The Panthers are looking to secure their fifth Horizon League title in eight years after a fifth-place finish at last year's championships. Anelise Egge leads the team following her first-place finish at last season's Horizon League Championships, where she was named Horizon League Runner of the Year. Egge became the first Panther since Meg Swietlik in 2020 to win the individual title and aims to repeat this fall. Key returners for Milwaukee include Rachel Helm, Ally Schmitz, and Anna Gallagher.

The top five teams in the women's preseason poll are Robert Morris (111 points, 7 first-place votes), Youngstown State (102 points, 2 first-place votes), Oakland (99 points, 1 first-place vote), Purdue Fort Wayne (97 points, 1 first-place vote), and Milwaukee (82 points).

On the men's side, Milwaukee was picked seventh after finishing ninth at last year’s Horizon League Championships. The team brings back experienced runners Carter Eckhoff and Cullen Boyle, along with Sam Schreiber and Lucas Picco.

Youngstown State leads the men's preseason poll with 98 points and eight first-place votes. They are followed by IU Indy (86 points, one first-place vote), Oakland (73 points), Green Bay (63 points), Northern Kentucky and Purdue Fort Wayne tied for fifth (55 points each), Milwaukee (38 points), Wright State (34 points), Detroit Mercy (31 points) and Robert Morris (17 points).

Both teams will begin their season on Saturday, August 30th at the Tom Barry Invitational hosted by St. Norbert College in Green Bay.