The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods women's cross country team officially has the proverbial target on its back. 
The 2022 River States Conference Women's Cross Country Coaches' Preseason Poll has the defending champion Pomeroys on top. The Pomeroys were picked to repeat after winning the title in 2021, their first year in the conference.
"Being at the top of the coaches' poll adds extra motivation for the team to work even harder. I am excited about the team we have and can't wait to start competing," SMWC coach Zach Whitkanack said.
The poll was voted on by head coaches in the RSC. St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) earned eight of the 10 available first-place votes and led the poll with 89 points. The remaining two first place votes went to Point Park (Pa.) University, which was runner-up last year and received 82 votes this preseason.
The Pomeroys' women's team returns three top-15 finishers from the 2021 River States Conference Championships, including fifth-place finisher Emily Truax, 10th-place Zoe Trausch and 14th-place Kayla Coryea. 
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods leads a preseason conference prediction that follows very much the same order as last year's RSC Championship finish. With the exception of a bit more bunching up along the way, the only differences are a couple of teams switching spots near the bottom. 
Indiana University Kokomo was predicted third with 73 points, and the Cougars will host the conference meet this year. Next was Indiana University East in fourth 60 and very close behind that Brescia (Ky.) University in fifth with 58 and University of Rio Grande (Ohio) in sixth with 57. 
The second half of the 11-team conference consisted of Oakland City (Ind.) University, Alice Lloyd (Ky.) College, Ohio Christian University, Midway (Ky.) University and WVU Tech. 
The 2022 RSC Cross Country Championships will take place Nov. 5 at Indiana University Kokomo. See below for the complete preseason poll.