TOWSON, Md. --- The Moravian College women's cross country team has been selected to defend its title in the 2014 Landmark Conference Preseason Poll as selected by the conference's head coaches.

Moravian received three first-place votes and 70 points to finish eight points ahead of Landmark newcomer Elizabethtown College which had the most first-place votes with four. Susquehanna University is third in the poll with 57 points and the other two first-place votes.

The Greyhounds, who won the Landmark last fall and in 2011 as well, return seven runners from last year and will be led four returning All-Conference runners. Seniors Claire Del Casale and Emily Lambright return after being on the First Team with top seven finishes last November while senior Devon Bedell and sophomore Meg Brockett made the Second Team in 2013.

"To be honest I'm a bit surprised by the ranking," stated fourth-year Head Coach Jesse Baumann. "Elizabethtown, on paper, probably should be the favorite because they return a few seniors that finished high up at Regionals in 2013, and brought in a nice freshmen class to compliment some underclassmen that appear poised to break out. Scranton returns virtually their entire team that was neck and neck with us last fall, and Susquehanna has made some big jumps and return an All-American from the track. This is as tough as the conference has been since I've been here so whoever wins in November will prove to be a very talented team that could probably end up qualifying for the NCAAs two weeks later at Regionals.

"I'm happy with where we're at, though'" continued Baumann. "Our seniors came back in great shape and based on some early workouts it appears that some of our sophomores made a significant jump over the summer. We have some pretty impressive PRs and accomplishments from our freshmen class, but just like with the men, there is an adaptation process to not only the distance of the race in college, but the training demands. As long as we can stay healthy and continue to improve, I think we could be one of the teams in contention in November."

The Greyhounds will begin their 2014 season on Friday, August 29 at the Lehigh University Invitational to be run on the Goodman Campus course beginning at 5:30 p.m. Goucher College will host the 2014 Landmark Conference Championship meet on Saturday, November 1.

2014 Landmark Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll