JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The United Athletic Conference (UAC) has announced the Men's and Women's Cross Country preseason awards and coaches poll for the 2026 season.
EKU swept the preseason coaches polls, unanimously, along with both Preseason Runner of the Year awards as Taha Er Raouy claimed the men's honor and Edna Chelulei took the women's award.
The Colonels are coming off their fourth consecutive ASUN Men's Cross Country Championship title where they finished in the top four individual placements. The Colonels advanced to the NCAA Men's National Championship last season where they placed ninth, the highest team finish in program history. EKU is led by the two-time individual conference champion and two-time ASUN Runner of the Year, Er Raouy, who won both accolades in 2023 and 2025. Er Raouy earned USTFCCCA All-America honors last year with a 30th-place finish at nationals with a personal-best 10k time of 29:00.05.
EKU's women's squad finished second in the 2025 ASUN Women's Cross Country Championship, placing three runners in the top-10 individually. Chelulei led the way for the Colonels, finishing fourth in the conference championship only eight seconds behind the individual champion. The reigning ASUN Freshman of the Year placed 11th at Regionals in a time of 19:47.0, becoming the first All-Region runner from EKU since 2021 and the first Colonel to run at the NCAA National Championships since 2017.
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2026 United Athletic Conference Preseason Men's Cross Country Coaches Poll
| 1. |
EKU* |
80 (8) |
| 2. |
UT Arlington |
65 (1) |
| 3. |
Central Arkansas |
62 |
| 4. |
North Alabama |
58 |
| 5. |
Abilene Christian |
53 |
| 6. |
Little Rock |
45 |
| 7. |
Tarleton State |
44 |
| 8. |
West Georgia |
34 |
| 9. |
Austin Peay |
30 |
*denotes a unanimous decision
() - number of first place votes
Preseason Men's Runner of the Year: Taha Er Raouy, EKU
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2026 United Athletic Conference Preseason Women's Cross Country Coaches Poll
| 1. |
EKU* |
80 (8) |
| 2. |
UT Arlington |
66 |
| 3. |
Central Arkansas |
62 |
| 4. |
Abilene Christian |
56 (1) |
| 5. |
Tarleton State |
50 |
| 6. |
North Alabama |
47 |
| 7. |
Little Rock |
43 |
| 8. |
West Georgia |
34 |
| 9. |
Austin Peay |
33 |
*denotes a unanimous decision
() - number of first place votes
Preseason Women's Runner of the Year: Edna Chelulei, EKU
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About the United Athletic Conference
The newly rebranded United Athletic Conference (UAC) is a competitive NCAA Division I conference sponsoring sixteen (16) sports and championships with nine (9) full member institutions including Abilene Christian University (Abilene, Texas), the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (Little Rock, Ark.), Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, Tenn.), the University of Central Arkansas (Conway, Ark.), Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, Ky.), the University of North Alabama (Florence, Ala.), Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Texas), the University of Texas at Arlington (Arlington, Texas), and the University of West Georgia (Carrollton, Ga.) with the University of West Florida (Pensacola, Fla.) as an affiliate member in football.