The Midwest Conference released its 2018 Men's Track and Field Preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday and Lake Forest College, which only competes in running events of at least 400m, was ninth in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWC head track and field coaches. Each coach votes for the other nine schools in the league in order of predicted finish at the 2018 MWC Indoor and Outdoor Championship Meets. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (nine points for first, eight for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
The 2018 track season will be the first in decades for Lake Forest, which will focus entirely on the middle distance and distance events (400m-10,000m). Senior Jonathan Stern, junior
Jorge Villanueva, and sophomore Philip Wilson are expected to be among the team's top performers after earning all-MWC honors in cross country in the fall.
Head coach Dan Simpson, who also leads the Forester cross country program, will take his runners to Olivet Nazarene University on January 20 for their first meet. The MWC Indoor Championships will be hosted by Ripon College February 23-24 and the MWC Outdoor Championships will be held May 11-12 at Monmouth College.
Preseason Coaches Poll
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Monmouth College (7) | 70 |
| 2 | St. Norbert College (1) | 63 |
| 3 | Cornell College (1) | 62 |
| 4 | Illinois College | 51 |
| 5 | Beloit College | 39 |
| 6 | Ripon College | 38 |
| 7 | Grinnell College | 32 |
| 8 | Lawrence University | 20 |
| 9 | Lake Forest College | 17 |
| 10 | Knox College | 13 |