COLLEGE PARK, MD – The Maryland cross country team earned a No. 8 ranking in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Preseason Poll as announced by the organization.
 
The first official national and regional coaches polls will be released on Monday, Sept. 16.
 
Maryland opened the season on Saturday, August 31 by winning the Salisbury Fall Classic. Rose Coats and Eva Rogers finished first and second, respectively, as part of a 1-2-3 individual sweep with four Terps among the top-10 runners overall.
 
Coats earned the program's first-ever Big Ten Runner of the Week following her performance at the Salisbury Fall Classic, while Rogers was tabbed the league's Freshman of the Week.
 
After a week off, Maryland will turn its sights to the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational this Friday, Sept. 13 in State College, PA. 
 
Maryland is led this year by a veteran trio of Katie Altieri, Coats, and Katie Turk. Overall, the Terps return 12 members from last season's squad while adding six newcomers. Last season, the Terps finished 10th at the Big Ten Championship to equal its best mark in the event originally set in 2017. That set-up an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet which was the best finish for the harriers since 2003.
 
Prior to the start of the 2024 campaign, the Big Ten announced its Runners To Watch for the year with Altieri chosen as one of the top performers in the league.
 
Altieri has been one of the top distance runners for the Terps throughout her career. Last year during the cross country season, she had a pair of top-five finishes with fourth-place showings at the Baltimore Metro Meet and the Navy Cross Country Invitational.