Top Five Hold, Eastern Oregon Makes Four-Spot Jump in Final Men's Cross Country Top 25

Top Five Hold, Eastern Oregon Makes Four-Spot Jump in Final Men’s Cross Country Top 25

NAIA Staff

November 11, 2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Eastern Oregon shot up four spots to No. 6, and two teams outside the top 10 made five-spot climbs, as Rio Grande (Ohio) moved up to No. 12 and Spring Arbor (Mich.) to No. 13 in the final edition of the 2025 NAIA Men’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Rating.

The Master’s (Calif.) held its spot at No. 1, claiming 12 of the 18 first-place votes cast, holding a six-point margin on Indiana Wesleyan. The Wildcats claimed six first-place votes and remained No. 2. The top five remained unchanged, as Cumberlands (Ky.), Taylor (Ind.), and Saint Mary (Kan.) held at Nos. 3, 4, and 5, and two new teams made their way into the Top 25 – Kansas Wesleyan and Park (Mo.) in a tie at No. 24.

The 2025 NAIA Men’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	The Master’s (Calif.) [12]	490
2	2	Indiana Wesleyan [6]	484
3	3	Cumberlands (Ky.)	465
4	4	Taylor (Ind.)	436
5	5	Saint Mary (Kan.)	426
6	10	Eastern Oregon	405
7	6	Rocky Mountain (Mont.)	398
8	7	Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)	386
9	8	Milligan (Tenn.)	371
10	9	Southern Oregon	365
11	12	College of Idaho	321
12	17	Rio Grande (Ohio)	291
13	18	Spring Arbor (Mich.)	277
14	16	Doane (Neb.)	269
15	15	Trinity Western (B.C.)	267
16	11	IU East (Ind.)	261
17	19	Goshen (Ind.)	254
18	22	Cornerstone (Mich.)	230
19	14	Madonna (Mich.)	195
20	T-20	Carroll (Mont.)	179
21	13	Marian (Ind.)	168
22	T-20	Corban (Ore.)	147
23	24	St. Francis (Ill.)	123
T-24	RV	Kansas Wesleyan	103
T-24	NR	Park (Mo.)	103

Receiving Votes, In the Top 30:

RV	Last Rating	Institution	Points
26	25	Aquinas (Mich.)	96
27	RV	Dordt (Iowa)	85
28	23	Montreat (N.C.)	75
29	RV	Mount Mercy (Iowa)	53
30	RV	Concordia (Neb.)	25

Others Receiving Votes: Northwest (Wash.) 13, Shawnee State (Ohio) 11, Ave Maria (Fla.) 8, Oklahoma City 7, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 2.

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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