WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State was picked to finish fourth in the 2020 Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll released Wednesday morning.

The Mustangs head into the season under the direction of interim coach Jim LaValley, who takes the reins following the departure of Koby Styles, who led the program for the last 13 years.

LaValley recently retired from coaching at Barwise Junior High in Wichita Falls and has an extensive running background. He raced for Midwestern State in the mid-1980s and served as a student coach for the men's and women's program after serving in the United States Air Force.

Midwestern State claimed its seventh LSC cross country title in 2018, but is coming off of a sixth-place showing at the league championship last fall.

Senior Amerhyst Woolf, a two-time All-LSC performer, leads a group of seven returning letter winners for the Mustangs. The Las Cruces, N.M. native was the team's front runner in all six meets last season finishing sixth at the conference championship.

Other returners include senior Mercy Yermo, juniors Alex Feller and Victoria Rosas and sophomores Elizabeth Butzke, Christyn Smith and Sidney Tucker.

Seniors Katy Pfile and Katie Till joins junior Delaney Locke coming back from redshirt campaigns, while the roster is bolstered by three talented freshmen additions in Brayleigh McGill (Panhandle HS), Grace O'Keefe (Dallas Highland Park HS) and Kenzee Talamantez (Ozona HS).

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Mustangs compete in an abbreviated schedule this fall beginning with the Orville Rogers DBU XC Opener in Grand Prairie on Friday, Sept. 25. MSU also competes in the West Texas A&M Buffalo Stampede on Oct. 9 and the Angelo State XC Classic on Oct. 16 before competing in the LSC Championship on Oct. 31 in San Angelo.
     

Rank	Team (First-place votes)	Total
1t	Lubbock Christian (17)	504
1t	West Texas A&M (11)	504
3	Dallas Baptist (7)	486
4	Midwestern State	416
5	St. Edward's	350
6	Western New Mexico	348
7	Cameron (1)	335
8	Oklahoma Christian	330
9	UT Tyler	224
10	Texas A&M-Commerce	200
11	Texas A&M International	170
12	UT Permian Basin	163
13	Arkansas-Fort Smith	111
14	Angelo State	105
15	Texas A&M-Kingsville	74