The Wabash College cross country team received one first-place vote and 53 total points to finish fourth in the 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference men's pre-championship coaches poll, announced on Monday.
 
Wabash, the defending men's champion after capturing its fourth NCAC title in 2023, received one of the nine votes from the conference coaches heading into this Sunday's NCAC Cross Country Championships to be held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. The men's race will begin at 12:15 p.m. Sunday, following the women's race at 11 a.m.
 
Oberlin College picked up four first-place votes in the pre-championship poll and a total of 72 points to finish one point ahead of Wittenberg in the coaches' rankings. Wittenberg received the remaining four first-place votes and 71 to finish second in the polling. DePauw earned 66 points for third place. Kenyon (48 points), Wooster (41 points), Denison (27 points), Ohio Wesleyan (18 points), and Hiram (9 points) round out the pre-championship selections.
 
Wabash put six of its top-seven runners on the 2023 all-conference team with top-21 finishes at the 2023 meet. Senior Brayden Curnutt, a Second Team All-NCAC performer in 2021, 2022, and 2023, enters Sunday's meet with the Little Giants' best time of the season heading into the championship meet. Curnutt ran a season-best 24:52.3 to finish 26^th out of 405 runners competing at the Augustana Interregional Invitational on October 16. Jacob Sitzman earned Second Team All-NCAC honors with an 11^th-place finish at the 2023 meet. His top time in 2024 came at the Augustana meet, crossing the finish line in 26:13.5 for a personal-best effort.
 
Haiden Diemer-McKinney and Will Neubauer each earned Third Team All-NCAC honors last season. Diemer-McKinney turned in a personal-best time of 26:09.3 on the Gibson Course at the DIII Pre-Nationals Meet on October 9. Orihuela's best effort of 27:50.1 came at the Gil Dodds Meet on September 21.
 
Senior Justin Santiago turned in a season-best time of 27:12.3 at the Gil Dodds Invitational on September 21. Sophomore David Adesanya produced a career-best time of 27:57.3 at the Augustana meet on October 19. Sophomore Angel Perez turned in his best collegiate time at the Pre-Nationals meet, running a time of  28:04.5 on the course in Terre Haute.
 
Freshmen Johnathan Loney and Alex Orihuela have produced solid performances in their first collegiate seasons. Loney ran a season-best time of 27:59.5 on the Gibson course at the October 4 Pre-Nationals meet.
 
Live results from Sunday's championship meet will be available at https://timingmd.net/XC%20Results.html.