The Evergreen State College women’s cross country team ranked ninth in the 2026 Cascade Collegiate Conference preseason poll, released Aug. 13.
Last fall at the 2025 CCC Championships, the Geoducks took seventh place. Alauna Carstens, entering her senior season, won the CCC Championship in the women’s 6-kilometer race with a time of 20:49.60 and went on to take fourth place in the nation at the 2025 NAIA Cross Country Championships in 21:02.1.
Carstens earned all-conference recognition for the second time in cross country and was honored as an NAIA All-American in cross country for the second time. Including Carstens, the Geoducks return last year’s top-five finishers at the CCC Championships, with four runners competing this fall and the other joining the Evergreen coaching staff.
Top returning competitors from the CCC meet are Carstens, senior Sherlyn Perales, senior Madison Palek, and junior Dani Buttrell. Izabelle Trefts, a two-time NAIA national champion in race walking and 2026 Evergreen graduate, also scored for the Geoducks at the CCC meet and is now an assistant cross country and track and field coach for Evergreen.
Head coach Joel Pearson is entering his fourth year leading the Geoducks in cross country and track and field.
College of Idaho is listed at the top of the poll with 142 points and 10 of the 12 first-place votes. After College of Idaho in this year’s CCC preseason poll was Southern Oregon with 126 points and one first-place vote. Eastern Oregon was third with 116 points, and Lewis-Clark State was fourth with 110 points.
Corban followed in fifth place in the poll with 90 points. Trinity Western was listed sixth with 75 points and one first-place vote. Oregon Tech held seventh place with 72 points. Northwest was eighth with 62 points, and Evergreen was ninth with 58 points.
Bushnell ranked 10th with 44 points, Walla Walla sat in 11th place with 23 points, and Warner Pacific rounded out the poll in 12th with 15 points.
Evergreen is scheduled to open the season on Friday, Sept. 4 at the Linfield Harrier Classic at Joe Dancer Park in McMinnville, Oregon. The 2026 CCC Championships will be held on Friday, Nov. 6 at the Lewis-Clark State College Country Trail in Lewiston, Idaho.
