Raider Men Land Top-Four Spot in GPAC Poll

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) released its men's cross country preseason poll this morning with Northwestern picked in the fourth-place spot.

Voted on by the league's head coaches, the Raiders were picked fourth with 70 points. Coaches could not vote for their own team.

Dordt was picked first with 97 points and seven first-place votes. Receiving the four remaining first-place votes was Doane. Concordia and Northwestern rounded out the top four.

The Raiders took fifth place at last year's GPAC race and return all but one of their scorers from that race in Alik McIlravy, Ben VanDeBerg, Parker Engel, Isaiah Aragon, Carson Van Sickle, and Ashton Hughes. Northwestern also welcomes a large freshman class of 12 new runners to the fold, looking to make an immediate impact. Northwestern finished second at two meets last season, posting strong performances at the Briar Cliff Invite and Mount Marty Invite.

Below are the full results of the preseason coaches' poll.

Place	Team	Points	1st Place Votes
1	Dordt Defenders	97	7
2	Doane Tigers	94	4
3	Concordia Bulldogs	81
4	Northwestern Red Raiders	70
5	Mount Marty Lancers	62
6	Midland Warriors	59
7	Hastings Broncos	43
8	Morningside Mustangs	42
9	Briar Cliff Chargers	21
10	Dakota Wesleyan Tigers	20
11	Waldorf Warriors	16

Northwestern will open its season under the lights on September 5 at the Augustana Twilight.

Don't forget to follow Northwestern College Athletics on Facebook @nwcraiders, Twitter @nwcraiders, and Instagram @nwcraiders! #RaidersStandOut

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Players Mentioned

Ashton Hughes: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Ben VanDeBerg: 6' 1"; Junior

Isaiah Aragon: 5' 8"; Freshman

Parker Engel: 5' 11"; Freshman

Alik McIlravy: 6' 0"; Freshman

Carson Van Sickle: 6' 3"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Ashton Hughes
: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Ben VanDeBerg
: 6' 1"; Junior

Isaiah Aragon
: 5' 8"; Freshman

Parker Engel
: 5' 11"; Freshman

Alik McIlravy
: 6' 0"; Freshman

Carson Van Sickle
: 6' 3"; Freshman