The Midwest Conference released its 2019 Cross Country Coaches Polls on Tuesday and the Lake Forest College men's team was listed fourth and the women fifth 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 2019 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.
Grinnell College finished atop the men's rankings and St. Norbert was first in the women's poll. The Forester men's team's 46 points in were five fewer than third-place St. Norbert and four more than Cornell College. Lake Forest had 47 points in the women's voting to fall between Cornell (54) and Ripon College (38).
Among the returning runners for the Foresters are senior Philip Wilson, who earned All-MWC accolades by placing among the top 20 at the conference meet in each of his first three seasons, and junior Yaneli Guajardo, a two-time All-MWC honoree and the runner-up at last year's MWC Championships. The Forester men were third in the league and the women fifth in 2018, Ciara Kissane's first season as the team's head coach.
Lake Forest will started the season at the Elmhurst Earlybird Invitational on Friday, August 20, and compete in four other meets before traveling to Knox College for the 2019 MWC Championships on November 2.
Men's Preseason Coaches Poll
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Grinnell College (7) | 78 |
| 2 | Monmouth College (1) | 61 |
| 3 | St. Norbert College | 51 |
| 4 | Lake Forest College | 46 |
| 5 | Cornell College | 42 |
| 6 | Lawrence University | 39 |
| 7 | Ripon College | 37 |
| 8 | Beloit College | 28 |
| 9 | Knox College | 13 |
| 10 | Illinois College | 10 |
Women's Preseason Coaches Poll
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | St. Norbert College (8) | 80 |
| 2 | Grinnell College (2) | 71 |
| 3 | Monmouth College | 68 |
| 4 | Cornell College | 54 |
| 5 | Lake Forest College | 47 |
| 6 | Ripon College | 38 |
| 7 | Lawrence University | 31 |
| 8 | Beloit College | 29 |
| 9 | Knox College | 17 |
| 10 | Illinois College | 15 |
