Burnsville, Minn. – The NSIC Preseason Poll for men's cross country was released this morning and saw the Golden Eagles picked to finish 12^th in the 13 team NSIC.
 
Preseason favorite Augustana had Ryan Hartman named the Preseason Athlete of the Year. The junior from Wausau, Wis., will look to help the Vikings improve on their NCAA National Finish of 19^th a year ago.
 
The Vikings were picked to finish first with 12 out of the possible 13 first place votes. Minnesota State was voted second, while Sioux Falls had a first place vote and was picked to finish third. Minnesota Duluth and the University of Mary round out the top five.
 
Tristan Morneault (R-Jr., Dieppe, New Brunswick) was named as the runner to watch for the Golden Eagles. Morenault, who also plays hockey at Minnesota Crookston, finished 64^th at the NSIC Championships and 148^th at the NCAA regionals.
 
The Golden Eagles have improved every year and finished the NCAA regionals with a team score of 837, compared to 878 in 2021. The Golden Eagles also improved their time by almost a minute and a half to close out the year last season.
 
Minnesota Crookston heads into their fifth season under the direction of head coach Steve Krouse and will open their season on September 1^st at the Augustana Twilight in Sioux Falls, S.D.