Butler Cross Country Earns Regional Ranking

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- Butler will open the 2012 cross country season with a pair of “Top 10” regional rankings.  The Bulldogs were ranked seventh in the Great Lakes Region in both the men’s and women’s U. S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association 2012 Preseason NCAA Division I Regional Cross Country Rankings, released on Monday (August 27).

Butler’s men trailed five teams from the Big 10 and Notre Dame in the initial coaches’ ranking.  Wisconsin topped the men’s poll, followed by Indiana, Michigan, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Ohio State.  Marquette was ranked eighth, followed by Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan.

The Butler women came in after Michigan, Michigan State, Toledo, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Indiana.  Ohio State, Ohio and Central Michigan completed the “Top 10.”

Both Butler teams are beginning their first season in the Atlantic 10 Conference.  Butler’s men captured their 14th consecutive Horizon League cross country championship last fall, while the Butler women won the Horizon League title for the ninth time in 10 years.

Butler will begin the 2012 season at the Illini Challenge on Friday, August 31.