The High Point University women's cross country team has been picked to finish fourth in the Big South Preseason Poll released on Thursday. The Panthers return five of their top seven runners, including top finisher Emily Webb, and add three newcomers to the roster.

"On paper, fourth is where people would think we fall in this list, but I think we're going to exceed that," said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. "Probably four teams have a shot to win the conference championship. We have a lot of work to do but I'm encouraged by where we can be by that point in the season."

Webb placed eighth at the 2009 Big South Cross Country Championship. She followed that up with strong seasons in indoor and outdoor track, setting career bests in every distance event. In Big South Championships, Webb placed third in the 5,000-meter indoors and third in the 10,000-meter outdoors.

"Emily's goal is to be the individual conference champion," said Esposito. "She was right there in the 5,000 and 10,000 in track. Brittany Killough and Kaylyn Peck are right there training with her this fall, which is really good for our team prospects this season."

Brittany Killough had a strong finish to the outdoor track season, placing sixth in the 10,000-meter at the Big South Championship and running a season-best 18:13.89 in the 5,000-meter at the HPU VertKlasse Meeting. Kaylyn Peck was injured during the 2009 cross country season but ran well in the 1,500-meter in the spring. She had a strong summer of training leading into this cross country season.

HPU also returns junior Kelsey Fraser, who was in HPU's top five in each of the last two cross country seasons, as well as senior Monica Delizo, who has consistently improved for HPU. Sophomores Kelsey Hunt, Dani Paul and Kelsey Paine all have the ability to contribute this season as well. Senior Dianna Bell and junior Kelsey Hinchliffe add depth to the Panthers' roster.

High Point added three freshmen for the 2010 season – Colleen Hollowood, Audrey Malloy and Kayleigh Perry.

"I expect the freshmen to be able to contribute and add a lot of depth for us," said Esposito. "Kayleigh Perry is one of the best runners out of Pennsylvania. Colleen Hollowood comes from one of the best high school programs in the country. Audrey Malloy is a really tough competitor and this will be her first year concentrating entirely on cross country."

High Point opens the season on Sept. 3 at the Covered Bridge Open and also runs in the Blue Ridge Open at Appalachian State. Radford will host this year's Big South Championship on Oct. 30. The Panthers will get a look at the championship course on Sept. 25 when they run in the Big South Preview Meet.