CARMEL, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference has unveiled the 2025 Women's Cross Country Preseason poll, where Rose-Hulman has been voted to finish fifth in the conference.

Rose-Hulman earned a total of 50 points in the poll, and they are coming off a fifth-place finish at the 2024 HCAC Championship. They trail fourth-place finisher Transylvania at 52 points, and rank one spot above sixth-place finisher Franklin at 41 points.

Reigning HCAC Champions Hanover were voted to finish in first place as they garnered 77 points with five first place votes. Manchester was picked to take second with 75 points and five first place votes as well, while reigning runners-up, Berea came in third with 62 points.

Head Coach Derick Lawrence is back for his fourth season with the Fightin' Engineers, where he returns his top three runners from last years HCAC Championship. Junior Brianna Bittel accumulated All-HCAC First Team honors, where she placed 12^th overall at the HCAC Championship with a time of 24:42.18. Sophomore Juliana Carragher placed 23^rd overall with a time of 25:17.32, while senior Jada Hunter-Hays came in 25^th place with a time of 25:25.39.

Bittel and Carragher, as well as junior Jocelyn Onstot and senior Rebecca Testa were named 2025 Athletes to Watch by the HCAC. Testa recorded Rose-Hulman's fifth best time at the conference tournament, as she took 29^th place in 25:49.66. Onstot earned HCAC All-Conference First Team honors in 2023, while also being named the 2023 HCAC Newcomer of the Year.

The Fightin' Engineers will compete in their first of five regular season meets on Friday, Aug. 29 at 8:30 AM, as they take on the Sam Bell Invitational in Bloomington, Ind.

HCAC PRESEASON POLL RESULTS:
1) Hanover – 77 (5)
2) Manchester – 75 (5)
3) Berea – 62
4) Transylvania – 52
5) Rose-Hulman – 50
6) Franklin – 41
7) Anderson – 31
8) Earlham – 28
9) Bluffton – 21
10) Mt. St. Joseph – 10