WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State is third in the Lone Star Conference Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll. The Mustangs are expected to finish behind West Texas A&M and Dallas Baptist.

Senior Ella Pando from Weatherford, Texas, and senior Jayden Dangerfield from Lancaster, Texas, were recognized as runners to watch in the upcoming season.

The preseason poll is voted on by LSC head coaches and sports information directors, while the runners to watch are nominated by their member institution.

Head coach Kelsey Bruce is in her fifth season as the head coach at Midwestern State, and she is happy to have an experienced group of runners that have been the bulk of her team over the last four years.

"We have a great group of girls that have been really fun to work with," Bruce said. "We're very senior heavy. I think half our squad and most of our contributors are seniors right now."

Pando earned all-conference honors for the second consecutive year after a 13th-place finish in the 2024 Lone Star Conference Championship at Dick Kleberg Park in Kingsville, Texas. Pando completed the 6,000-meter course with a personal-best time of 21:58.87.

Dangerfield finished with a time of 22:22.45 in the 2024 LSC Championships and finished 17th. Midwestern State amassed 113 points for a third-place finish in Kingsville last year.

"They're different styles of runners," Bruce said. "Jayden is an 800m/1500m, and Ella is a 5K/10K, but cross pulls out the best in both of them."

Bruce says Pando and Dangerfield are both determined competitors and consistent in their performances.

"They bring a level that brings everybody else up, too," Bruce said.

Midwestern State finished among the top-three schools in five of seven meets last season, including a first-place finish at home in the Mustang Derby. MSU finished 15th among 25 schools in the NCAA Division II South Central Regionals in Denver.

West Texas A&M is predicted to win its third consecutive Lone Star Conference women's cross country championship, collecting 30 of the 32 possible first place votes and 510 points. Head coach Zach Daniel's Buffs were the NCAA Division II National Runner-Up last year – the best finish in program history – and fifth at the South Central Regional.
 
DBU is the second-place conference pick with 472 points and the final two first-place votes. The Patriots won three straight LSC titles from 2020-2022 and were the league runner-up the last two years.
 
Seven-time LSC champion Midwestern State (the most recent title coming in 2018) is the third-place choice with 424 points. Oklahoma Christian (391 points) and St. Edward's (376 points) round out the top 5.
 
Texas A&M-Kingsville, which won the league crown in 1986, is the sixth-place pick with 325 points. Cameron and UT Tyler are tied for the seventh spot with 308 points. Six-time LSC champion Angelo State is picked ninth with 240 points, followed by 2019 conference champion Lubbock Chrisitan (224 points) to complete the top 10.
 
Texas A&M International is selected 11th with 200 points, followed by Western New Mexico (197 points), new league member UT Dallas (134 points), Eastern New Mexico (104 points), UT Permian Basin (101 points) and Sul Ross State (38 points) to finish out the poll.

The Mustangs open their campaign by running in the Aggie Duels hosted by Cameron in Lawton, Oklahoma, at Big Green Soccer Complex on Sept. 5 at 8 a.m.

Midwestern State hosts the Mustang Derby on Sept 11 at Lake Wichita Park.