Destination Tallahassee: NAIA Announces 2025 Women’s Cross Country Championship Qualifiers

Nov 11, 2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The field is set for the NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship in Tallahassee, Fla., as 36 teams converge on Apalachee Regional Park in search of the 2025 Red Banner.

The championship will air on NAIA Network and Urban Edge Network, with links, including URLs, mobile apps, and smart TV information, at NAIA.org/watch. The women's race is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET. Awards will air at approximately 11 a.m. ET.

Last year's national champion, The Master's (Calif.), is in the field as an automatic qualifier from the Great Southwest Conference, along with last season's individual champion, Jaynie Halterman, running for top-ranked Taylor (Ind.), as the Trojans earned the automatic bid from the Crossroads League.

Among the qualifying teams, 24 collected automatic bids through conference qualification, and 12 at-large selections were determined by the final edition of the 2025 NAIA Women's Cross Country Top 25 Coaches' Rating, reviewed by the rating’s Oversight Committee.

84 Individual Qualifiers also made the field, based on scoring finishes in conference meets. Later this week, check NAIA.org for a full preview of the 46th-Annual NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship.

Watch the Field Reveal on YouTube

INSTITUTION	CONFERENCE	HOW THEY QUALIFIED:
Columbia (Mo.)	American Midwest Conference	Conference Champion
Milligan (Tenn.)	Appalachian Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Montreat (N.C.)	Appalachian Athletic Conference	Conference Runner Up
Simpson (Calif.)	California Pacific Conference	Conference Champion
College of Idaho	Cascade Collegiate Conference	Conference Champion
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)	Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Haskell (Kan.)	Continental Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Taylor (Ind.)	Crossroads League	Conference Champion
Carroll (Mont.)	Frontier Conference	Conference Champion
Dordt (Iowa)	Great Plains Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Morningside (Iowa)	Great Plains Athletic Conference	Conference Runner Up
The Master's (Calif.)	Great Southwest Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Talladega (Ala.)	HBCU Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Benedictine (Kan.)	Heart of America Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Mount Mercy (Iowa)	Heart of America Athletic Conference	Conference Runner Up
Kansas Wesleyan	Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Saint Mary (Kan.)	Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference	Conference Runner Up
Cumberlands (Ky.)	Mid-South Conference	Conference Champion
Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)	Red River Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Rio Grande (Ohio)	River States Conference	Conference Champion
Oklahoma City	Sooner Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
William Carey (Miss.)	Southern States Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
SCAD Savannah (Ga.)	The Sun Conference	Conference Champion
Cornerstone (Mich.)	Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)	Great Southwest Athletic Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Grace (Ind.)	Crossroads League	At-Large Qualifier
Marian (Ind.)	Crossroads League	At-Large Qualifier
Indiana Wesleyan	Crossroads League	At-Large Qualifier
Southern Oregon	Cascade Collegiate Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Eastern Oregon	Cascade Collegiate Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Aquinas (Mich.)	Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Montana Tech	Frontier Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	Cascade Collegiate Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Shawnee State (Ohio)	River States Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Governors State (Ill.)	Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Missouri Baptist	Heart of America Athletic Conference	At-Large Qualifier


<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>

Women's Cross Country

Destination Tallahassee: NAIA Announces 2025 Women’s Cross Country Championship Qualifiers

Championship Information