2024 NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 Rating - No. 1 (September 26)
Milligan (Tenn.) holds the No. 1 spot in the first regular season NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 garnering 19 first-place votes. The Master's (Calif.) tallied the final two first-place votes as they jump four spots to No. 2; while Saint Mary (Kan.), College of Idaho, and Cumberlands (Ky.) round out the top five.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Milligan (Tenn.) holds the No. 1 spot in the first regular season NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 garnering 19 first-place votes. The Master's (Calif.) tallied the final two first-place votes as they jump four spots to No. 2; while Saint Mary (Kan.), College of Idaho, and Cumberlands (Ky.) round out the top five. Taylor (Ind.) climbed two spots from the preseason rating to sit at No. 6 in the nation.
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 | 1 | Milligan (Tenn.) [19] | 569 |
| 2 | 6 | The Master's (Calif.) [2] | 532 |
| 3 | 2 | Saint Mary (Kan.) | 530 |
| 4 | 5 | College of Idaho | 512 |
| 5 | 3 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 507 |
| 6 | 8 | Taylor (Ind.) | 486 |
| 7 | 4 | Indiana Wesleyan | 450 |
| 8 | 7 | Eastern Oregon | 426 |
| 9 | 9 | Dordt (Iowa) | 414 |
| 10 | 11 | Oklahoma City | 373 |
| 11 | 25 | Rio Grande (Ohio) | 372 |
| 12 | 10 | Montreat (N.C.) | 366 |
| 13 | 13 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 349 |
| 14 | 12 | Doane (Neb.) | 336 |
| 15 | 14 | Kansas Wesleyan | 303 |
| 16 | 16 | Aquinas (Mich.) | 256 |
| 17 | 18 | Spring Arbor (Mich.) | 242 |
| 18 | 17 | St. Francis (Ill.) | 231 |
| 19 | 19 | Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) | 216 |
| 20 | 15 | Carroll (Mont.) | 207 |
| 21 | RV | Grace (Ind.) | 196 |
| 22 | RV | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 169 |
| 23 | 22 | Corban (Ore.) | 154 |
| 24 | 20 | Shawnee State (Ohio) | 140 |
| 25 | RV | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | 99 |
Dropped from Top 25: Goshen (Ind.), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Marian (Ind.)
Receiving Votes: Goshen (Ind.) 76, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 71, Cornerstone (Mich.) 59, Concordia (Neb.) 49, UC Merced (Calif.) 43, Marian (Ind.) 28, IU East (Ind.) 22, Northwest (Wash.) 9, Southern Oregon 6, Saint Xavier (Ill.) 2, Cumberland (Tenn.) 2