NAPERVILLE – Fifteen-time College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) champion Wheaton is the favorite in Saturday’s CCIW Women’s Cross Country Championship, scheduled for noon at St. James Farm Forest Preserve in Warrenville, Ill.
 
2024 CCIW Women's Cross Country Pre-Championship Coaches' Poll

Team (First-place votes)	Points
1. Wheaton (8)	64
2. Illinois Wesleyan (1)	57
3. North Central	41
T4. Augustana	38
T4. Carthage	38
6. Elmhurst	28
7. Carroll	26
8. Millikin	24
9. North Park	8

The Thunder, which last won the CCIW team title in 2022, were the recipient of eight first-place votes and the maximum 64 points from votes submitted by league head coaches last week. Wheaton finished fourth overall as a team last fall.
 
Illinois Wesleyan was picked second with a single first-place vote and 57 points. The Titans were last season’s team favorite at the championship and placed second in the final 2023 team standings.
 
The team slotted for third place in Thursday’s poll is North Central. The Cardinals received 41 points, followed by a fourth-place tie between Augustana and Carthage with 38 points apiece.
 
Carroll was seventh, followed by defending champion Millikin in eighth spot and North Park in ninth.
 
St. James Farm Forest Preserve will be the site of both the women’s and men’s races on Saturday. It’s the fourth consecutive year the venue has served as host and the eighth time since 2012. North Park is the official host of the 2024 championship.
 
The top three individual runners from last season’s championship are eligible to return to compete Saturday – champion Adriana Crabtree of Illinois Wesleyan, Augustana’s Emma Odle and North Central’s Julia Benes. Odle owns the two fastest 6K times in the league this fall – 21:46.4 at Augie’s Interregional Invitational on Oct. 19 at Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island and 21:48.5 at the D3 Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind.