The Northern Sun Conference Men's Cross Country Coaches' Preseason Poll has been released and the Peacocks have been picked to finish thirteenth in the conference this season. Men's cross country will have 14 teams this season as Upper Iowa and the University of Minnesota Crookston will compete for the first time since joining the NSIC.
 
The defending NSIC Champions from the University of Sioux Falls were picked to win the NSIC in the preseason men's cross country coaches' poll. The Cougars received nine first place votes and tallied 162 points, ranking just one point ahead of Augustana, which received 161 points and the other five first place votes. MSU Moorhead was third with 139 points followed by Minnesota State, which had 129 points.

The 2017 NSIC Champion and last year's runner-up, Mason Phillips of the University of Sioux Falls repeated as NSIC Preseason Athlete of the Year. Phillips finished seventh at the 2018 NCAA Championships, earning his second All-American accolade.  Phillips has won nine individual titles in cross country over the past two years. 

Upper Iowa brings back the men's cross country program, along with the men's indoor and outdoor track programs, for its first year of competition in 2019. UIU suspended all of its cross country, track and tennis programs for men and women following the 2003-04 academic year as the University moved up to the NCAA Division II. Head Coach Nate Rucker will direct all six running sports between the women and men.
 
Historically, the Peacock cross country team placed second at the Iowa Conference Championship, in 1995, led by IIAC Coach of the Year, Tom Raunig, Upper Iowa placed four runners in the top ten including Steve Bonifer, Blaine Stulc, Carl Old Person and James Knoche.
 
This year's squad will be led by NSIC Athlete to Watch Grant Dieken, who transfers into Upper Iowa from North Iowa Area Community College. The Clear Lake, Iowa native ran a 30:38 (8K) race at the NJCAA Division I National Championships in 2018 to help NIACC to a 25th place national finish and notched his season and career best 8K time of 28:37 at the NJCAA Region XI Championships prior to the national meet. Joining Dieken at the head of the Peacock pack of runners will be junior Dalton Shaffer and freshman David Snider.
 
Upper Iowa will open their competition schedule on Sept. 7 at the St. Mary's Alumni Open in Winona, Minnesota and build toward the NSIC Championships. The 2019 NSIC cross country season culminates on Saturday, October 26 at the NSIC Cross Country Championships held in Wayne, Nebraska, hosted by Wayne State College. The NCAA Central Regional will be held on Saturday, November 9 in Joplin, Missouri while the NCAA National Championships will take place on November 23 at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento, California.