THOMASVILLE, N.C. -- Anderson College tops the 2003 CVAC women's cross country preseason poll as voted on by the league's head coaches. The Lady Trojans are looking forward to defending their 2002 women's CVAC championship as at Anderson's Pine Lake Golf Course. "The women's championship was two years in the making," said AC head coach Leroy Thomas. "I'm hoping we're going to be a stronger team, so I think we will make a good effort at defending the title. We have home course advantage again at Pine Lake, and we know the course well. But we're going to have a big price on our heads. We need to be aware of that and change our strategy; but that's a good position to be in. Our No. 1 goal is to go to the nationals as a team." The AC women will be led by junior Ashley Smoak, who had a breakout sophomore season. Smoak finished in the top four in eight meets, won one individual title, finished second in three meets, and participated in the Division II national meet. The Lees-McRae Lady Bobcats are projected to finish second as they have three returnees who will help provide quality leadership and guidance. Mairy Trexler has been All-CVAC her first two years as the lone junior on the team, while Angela Chappell returns for her sophomore year, looking to build off of last year's breakout season. Meanwhile Lashanda Williams will also continue to develop into a solid runner for the Bobcats. Adding to that experience, are four very talented freshmen: Leslie Thurman, Casey Willis, Rebecca Johnson and Claire Weeks. "We are going to have depth for the first time in a while and I am looking forward to the development of these young women," said L-M head coach Craig McPhail. Queens and Mt. Olive tied for the third in the preseason poll. Senior leadership and team chemistry should keep the Queens University of Charlotte women's cross country team on-pace for the 2003 season. Last year's squad finished sixth in the CVAC and 12th at the Southeast Regional. Sarah Terry is looking to follow up her stellar debut. The sophomore earned second team All-CVAC honors and was first across the finish line for the Royals at each meet. Other important returnees for Queens include senior Calyn Brown, Zara Lyons, and Carrie Meslar. Mt. Olive is coming off a highly successful fourth place finish in last year's CVAC championship. While they lost CVAC Runner of the Year Beth Schultz to graduation, returning for the Trojans will be seniors Elizabeth Martin and Jessica Murphy. They will team with juniors Meg Ryan and Charlene Spadaccini. On the men's side, Pfeiffer University, the defending CVAC champion, stakes claim to the top of the men's poll. The team returns six of the top seven from last year's championship team. Top returnees include defending conference champion & runner of the year sophomore Chris Hiatt, and fellow first team all-conference performer and senior Chris Lamperski. They will team with all-conference performers and seniors Justin Sink and Michael Whitley. Lees-McRae is young again but has a lot of potential as the second team in the coaches' poll. Several key returnees, some transfers, and a talented group of freshmen come to Banner Elk, N.C., to help lead the Bobcats. Junior Brian Knapp leads the returnees with experience. Knapp was All-CVAC and NCAA All-Southeast region runner as a freshman. Transfers Andrew Walton (Spokane Falls Community College) and Rocky Bilotta (UNC-Greensboro) will provide quality leadership for the young guys as they also chase lofty goals. Joe Barnett, the SC AAA 2-mile state champion, Lewis Martin (VA All-District runner), and John Bilotta (NC All-State runner), are just some of the talented freshmen Coach Craig McPhail is going to look to for support this season. Barton College lost one of its top runners in Josh Godfrey (CVAC runner-up team last year) but has bolstered its hopes for 2003 with the addition of five new prospects. Head coach Sheryl Neff will rely upon All-Region and All-Conference senior Brian Fowler and All-Conference sophomore Beaux Thompson to lead her team through a challenging schedule. "I think we definitely have better depth here than we've had in the last couple of years," Neff said, "and we're in better shape than we've been at this time of year. We look for our pack to be much, much tighter." Women's Poll.....................Men's Poll 1. Anderson (8) 96..............1. Pfeiffer (9) 99 2. Lees-McRae (3) 92............2. Lees-McRae (2) 87 T-3. Mt. Olive 71...............3. Barton 75 T-3. Queens 71..................4. Queens 70 5. Pfeiffer 64..................5. Anderson 57 6. Barton 51....................6. Belmont Abbey 55 7. Erskine 49...................7. Mount Olive 49 8. Coker 39.....................8. Coker 42 9. Belmont Abbey 35.............9. Erskine 28 10. St. Andrews 22.............10. St. Andrews 24 11. Limestone 15...............11. Limestone 19