Nobody Drops Out, But Order Shifts in Season's Final NAIA Women’s Cross Country Top 25

Nobody Drops Out, But Order Shifts in Season’s Final NAIA Women’s Cross Country Top 25

NAIA Staff

November 11, 2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Taylor (Ind.) claimed 15 of the 18 first-place votes cast to remain No. 1 in the 2025 NAIA Women’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Rating, and Milligan (Tenn.) picked up ground, claiming three first-place votes to remain at No. 2. The Nov. 11 edition of the rating is the final Top 25 of the 2025 season.

All 25 teams from the Oct. 30 rating stayed in the first 25 in the season’s final rating, although there were three significant jumps, as Kansas Wesleyan went from No. 14 to No. 11, Benedictine (Kan.) went from No. 19 to No. 13, and Aquinas (Mich.) moved from No. 23 to No. 19.

The 2025 NAIA Women’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Final Rating decided second automatic bids, if those automatic qualifiers are in the top 30, as well as at-large selections to the 2025 NAIA Men’s Cross Country National Championship, next week in Tallahassee, Fla.

Final Top 25:

Rank	Last Rating	Institution [First Place Votes]	Points
1	1	Taylor (Ind.) [15]	525
2	2	Milligan (Tenn.) [3]	512
3	5	College of Idaho	479
4	6	Cornerstone (Mich.)	455
5	T-3	The Master’s (Calif.)	449
6	T-3	Cumberlands (Ky.)	446
7	7	Dordt (Iowa)	445
8	8	Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)	406
9	9	Grace (Ind.)	387
10	11	Marian (Ind.)	357
11	14	Kansas Wesleyan	351
12	10	Saint Mary (Kan.)	337
13	12	Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)	316
14	13	Indiana Wesleyan	306
15	19	Benedictine (Kan.)	291
16	15	SCAD Savannah (Ga.)	270
17	18	Southern Oregon	250
18	16	Eastern Oregon	215
19	23	Aquinas (Mich.)	201
20	20	Carroll (Mont.)	189
21	17	Montana Tech	186
22	24	Oklahoma City	150
23	21	Rio Grande (Ohio)	149
24	22	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	134
25	25	Montreat (N.C.)	132

Receiving Votes, In the Top 30:

RV	Last Rating	Institution	Points
26	RV	Mount Mercy (Iowa)	127
27	RV	Shawnee State (Ohio)	44
28	NR	Governors State (Ill.)	39
29	RV	Missouri Baptist	31
T-30	RV	Morningside (Iowa)	20
T-30	RV	IU East (Ind.)	20

Others Receiving Votes: St. Ambrose (Iowa) 19, Oregon Tech 17, Arizona Christian 13, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 12.

Ratings Methodology

The rating is rated by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and unaffiliated groupings.
The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each rater rates the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 points for second place, 28 points for third place, and so on through the list.
The highest and lowest ratings for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) are removed. The team’s rating will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) on which the team appears.
Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”.


<table class="table">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Rank</th>
      <th>University</th>
      <th>Points</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr><td>1</td><td>Oklahoma Wesleyan University (Okla.)</td><td>504</td></tr>
    <tr><td>2</td><td>MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.)</td><td>485</td></tr>
    <tr><td>3</td><td>Keiser University (Fla.)</td><td>456</td></tr>
    <tr><td>4</td><td>Bethel University (Ind.)</td><td>455</td></tr>
    <tr><td>5</td><td>Lindsey Wilson University (Ky.)</td><td>407</td></tr>
    <tr><td>6</td><td>University of the Cumberlands (Ky.)</td><td>397</td></tr>
    <tr><td>7</td><td>Louisiana State University Shreveport (La.)</td><td>374</td></tr>
    <tr><td>8</td><td>Indiana Wesleyan University (Ind.)</td><td>364</td></tr>
    <tr><td>9</td><td>William Carey University (Miss.)</td><td>354</td></tr>
    <tr><td>10</td><td>Life University (Ga.)</td><td>351</td></tr>
    <tr><td>11</td><td>Cumberland University (Tenn.)</td><td>318</td></tr>
    <tr><td>12</td><td>Georgia Gwinnett College (Ga.)</td><td>317</td></tr>
    <tr><td>13</td><td>Grand View University (Iowa)</td><td>281</td></tr>
    <tr><td>14</td><td>Bethel University (Tenn.)</td><td>270</td></tr>
    <tr><td>15</td><td>Madonna University (Mich.)</td><td>262</td></tr>
    <tr><td>16</td><td>William Penn University (Iowa)</td><td>244</td></tr>
    <tr><td>17</td><td>Indiana Tech (Ind.)</td><td>229</td></tr>
    <tr><td>18</td><td>West Virginia University Institute of Technology (W.Va.)</td><td>215</td></tr>
    <tr><td>19</td><td>Dalton State College (Ga.)</td><td>167</td></tr>
    <tr><td>20</td><td>Grace College (Ind.)</td><td>147</td></tr>
    <tr><td>21</td><td>Ottawa University (Kan.)</td><td>118</td></tr>
    <tr><td>22</td><td>Xavier University (La.)</td><td>108</td></tr>
    <tr><td>23</td><td>Eastern Oregon University (Ore.)</td><td>89</td></tr>
    <tr><td>24</td><td>Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.)</td><td>75</td></tr>
    <tr><td>25</td><td>University of Northwestern Ohio (Ohio)</td><td>74</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

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