The Midwest Conference released its 2017 Women's Cross Country Coaches Poll on Thursday and Lake Forest College held the fourth-place spot in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWC head cross country coaches. Each coach votes for the other nine schools in the league in order of predicted finish at the 2017 MWC Championship Meet. 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 Foresters were fourth at last year's conference meet and have finished in the top half of the league each of the last four seasons. Cassie Lira, the team's top runner in each of her races in 2016, placed sixth as an individual. It was a breakout season for Lira, who recorded six times that rank among the top 25 in team history. Ashley Canner, Lauren Giurini, and Ariane Balaram join Lira as returning runners on this year's team who placed among the top 35 in the league a season ago.
Sixth-year head coach Dan Simpson's squad will compete in four meets before traveling to Illinois College for the 2017 MWC Championships on October 28.
Preseason Coaches Poll
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | St. Norbert College (7) | 79 |
| 2 | Grinnell College (2) | 70 |
| 3 | Cornell College | 66 |
| 4 | Lake Forest College | 56 |
| 5 | Monmouth College | 51 |
| 6 | Lawrence University | 38 |
| 7 | Beloit College | 37 |
| 8 | Knox College | 24 |
| 9 | Illinois College | 18 |
| 10 | Ripon College | 11 |