Preseason polls don't count for anything once competition actually begins, but they can offer a window into what your opposition thinks of you.

For the Franklin men's cross country team, this year's HCAC coaches poll wasn't quite a slap in the face, but it did offer a little bit of motivation.

Picked fourth in the league behind defending champion Rose-Hulman, Manchester and Hanover, the Grizzlies view that as more of a floor.

"We feel like we're going to be a little bit better than that," Franklin coach Brandon Dworak said. "We feel like we're a top-three team."

And there's plenty of reason to believe as much, despite the graduation of four-time All-HCAC runner John Asplund. A lot of teams might be shaken by the loss of their longtime No. 1 runner, but the Grizzlies are feeling good about where they stand because almost everyone else of consequence is back in the fold.

"I know I'm really, really excited," senior Jonah Decker said. "I've been trying to get everyone hyped up — which is pretty easy, because everyone knows we have a good team."

A senior class led by Decker, Riley Devening and Sam Wilson provides a strong foundation to build from; Devening was 39th and Decker 45th at last year's HCAC Championships. But the Grizzlies will likely end up following the lead of sophomore William Hirsch, who earned all-conference honors last fall and has only been riding a wave of positive momentum ever since.

Decker says he expects Hirsch to be among the top three runners in the HCAC after finishing 16th as a freshman. Dworak can't pinpoint one specific moment where the switch flipped over the past year, but he says he and Hirsch have certainly re-evaluated expectations in recent months — especially after Hirsch closed in on the school's 5,000-meter record during the spring track season.

"Halfway through that freshman cross country campaign, something clicked, and then it was like every meet he got a little better," Dworak said of Hirsch. "And I feel like he carried that right over into track where ... there was just a ton of growth in those three, four months. He just really caught that momentum and he just grabbed onto it."

Also working in Franklin's favor is the fact that this year's HCAC meet will be taking place on the Grizzlies' home course, Blue River Memorial Park in Shelbyville — where the team will also begin its season on Saturday morning by hosting the Grizzly Invite.

Quantifying that home-course advantage is difficult, but the team-wide consensus is that there will be at least some benefit.

"I definitely think so," Decker said. "We'll get to sleep in our own beds, not have to wake up too early, which I think is a really big advantage as opposed to staying in a hotel or being in a weird place where we would spend the night here but then have to get up really early to make the drive. So that's definitely an advantage."

"I think there's always a little bit of pride in, hey, this is our home meet, this is our course," Dworak said. "I can't put a percentage on, it's this much of an advantage or whatever, but I don't think it hurts us."

With both Manchester and Hanover, among other conference foes, competing in Shelbyville this weekend, the Grizzly Invite will offer an opportunity to measure up against the teams Franklin is trying to beat come Nov. 1. Just a little more motivation for a group that already seems to have plenty.