This past week the Conference Carolinas released their annual Preseason Poll. North Greenville's women's cross country was selected by the conference coaches to place third, while the men's cross country was selected to place sixth. 

This year, the women's team received 171 points in their poll placing them behind UNC Pembroke, who came in second with 182 points, and Converse, who were the 2023 champions and who received 13 of the 15 first-place votes with 195 points. On the men's side, the Trailblazers received 138 points in their poll. UNC Pembroke placed first with 194 points with 13 of the 15 first place votes, seeding them to win their third straight Conference Carolinas title. 

From Coach Cameron Stober:
"I think the pre-season polls are fair. We are ranked where we finished at last year's conference championship. Personally, I think the pre-season polls are somewhat irrelevant. We won't know what teams are capable of until competition begins. Our ultimate goal each year is to win a conference title. But we are aware that is tall task. Our conference has gotten exponentially better over the past decade. It seems like each year teams are improving...which is a good thing. We've got to get better as our competition gets better. Ultimately that comes down to talent, hard work, and staying healthy. Our team has worked really hard up to this point. I feel like we had a good summer of training. This summer we ran more miles as a team than any summer in program history, so the hope is that will prepare us well for the season. We've just got to continue to work hard and stay healthy. Staying healthy is unfortunately one of those things that you can't necessarily control. If we can stay committed to the task at hand, consistent in our training, and healthy throughout the season I think we can do really well as a team."
            
Both teams are filled with veteran talent that has lots of experience against conference competition and new talent that is eager to tear up the field. Members of both teams have meshed well together in practice and have shown a lot of camaraderie, which is important even in an individual sport like running. With some fast time trial times and workouts under their belts, the Trailblazers are set to kick off their season Saturday September 7^th at the Catawba Fleet Feet Invitational in Salisbury, North Carolina.