2024 NAIA Women's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 Rating - No. 1 (September 26)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Milligan (Tenn.) jumps into the top spot in the first regular season NAIA Women's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 Rating of the 2024 season receiving eight first-place votes. Saint Mary (Kan.) sits second with four first-place votes; The Master's (Calif.) ranks third with three first-place votes and Taylor (Ind.) garners four first-place votes and is fourth in the nation. Cumberlands (Ky.) rounds out the top five as the College of Idaho is in sixth.
Rating 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 for second-place, 28 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) that the team appears on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”.
| RANK | LAST TIME | INSTITUTION [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 2 | Milligan (Tenn.) [8] | 492 |
| 2 | 1 | Saint Mary (Kan.) [4] | 487 |
| 3 | 3 | The Master's (Calif.) [3] | 478 |
| 4 | 4 | Taylor (Ind.) [4] | 477 |
| 5 | 5 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 444 |
| 6 | 6 | College of Idaho | 422 |
| 7 | 8 | Montreat (N.C.) | 400 |
| 8 | 7 | Dordt (Iowa) | 393 |
| 9 | 11 | Southern Oregon | 368 |
| 10 | 10 | St. Francis (Ill.) | 350 |
| 11 | 16 | Grace (Ind.) | 323 |
| 12 | 12 | Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) | 322 |
| 13 | 15 | SCAD Savanah (Ga.) | 294 |
| 14 | 14 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 285 |
| 15 | 9 | Indiana Wesleyan | 281 |
| 16 | 13 | Huntington (Ind.) | 243 |
| 17 | 17 | Cornerstone (Mich.) | 242 |
| 18 | RV | Kansas Wesleyan | 196 |
| 19 | RV | Carroll (Mont.) | 196 |
| 20 | 18 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 194 |
| 21 | 24 | Aquinas (Mich.) | 163 |
| 22 | 25 | Mount Mercy (Iowa) | 130 |
| 23 | 22 | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | 122 |
| 24 | NR | SCAD Atlanta (Ga.) | 104 |
| 25 | 20 | Concordia (Neb.) | 93 |
Dropped from Top 25: Montana Tech, Benedictine (Kan.), Missouri Baptist
Receiving Votes: Montana Tech 68, Marian (Ind.) 65, Oklahoma City 64, Eastern Oregon 37, Doane (Neb.) 36, Saint Mary (Neb.) 20, Benedictine (Kan.) 19, Campbellsville (Ky.) 13, Cumberland (Tenn.) 11, Missouri Baptist 10, William Woods (Mo.) 5, Dalton (Ga.) 4, Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 3, UC Merced (Calif.) 3, St. Francis (Ind.) 2
