Follow our 2018 FloXC Countdown, where FloTrack ranks the top cross country teams in the NCAA this season, which will be LIVE on FloTrack. The No. 9 women’s spot in DII goes to Augustana (S.D.), and here's why:

Probable Top Five:

SR Mackenzie Kelly (4:34 1500; 17:00 5K; 25th at ’17 NCAA XC)

SR Leah Seivert (16:36 5K; 34:38 10K; 10th at ’15 NCAA XC)

JR Emily Tromp (4:57 Mile; 120th at ’17 NCAA XC)

SO Claire Boersma (17:39 5K; 147th at ’17 NCAA XC)

JR Courtney Hottovy (17:38 5K; 175th at ’17 NCAA XC)

Impact Freshmen/Transfers:

N/A

Analysis:

The Vikings of Augustana (S.D.) were just 14th last season in Evansville, but with six of their top seven returning— including two All-Americans— Augie has a ceiling among the NCAA’s top-10 this year.

Senior Mackenzie Kelly is the No. 1 on this team after finishing 25th at nationals and leading the Vikings at all but one meet in 2017. A great spring on the track only reinforces her position atop this group. Even so, fellow senior Leah Seivert has the ability to trump her teammate if she’s at full health. Seivert hasn’t had that luxury of late, but she does have two top-20 NCAA XC finishes plus elite track PRs that make her quite the wildcard for 2018. While coming back from injury, she was 77th at nationals last season.

Augustana has three NCAA-experienced runners in Emily Tromp, Claire Boersma, and Courtney Hottovy to support Kelly and Seivert. All three will need to finish higher than they did in 2017 to bring the Vikings into the top-10, but it’s fair to expect that after all were at their best yet on the track.

While it’s unfair to put so much pressure on one athlete’s shoulders, a lot of Augustana’s top-10 potential rests on the shoulders of Seivert, who has shown she can be a D-II superstar. Augie was 14th with her taking 77th last fall, but if she would’ve placed tenth— as she did back in 2015— her Vikings would’ve moved all the way up to ninth. That’s the sort of potential this team has in 2018.

FULL RANKINGS HERE