Milligan Women's XC Retains No. 1 Slot in NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Rating

Milligan Women's Cross Country holds a one-point lead as the No. 1 team in the nation in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Rating - No. 3

October 17, 2024

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) released the results of the NAIA Women's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 Rating - No. 3 on Thursday. The mid-October rating lauded the Milligan' Lady Buffs at No. 1, yet again, holding on to the top spot by a single point. 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.

Overall, the Buffaloes earned 578 points in the rating, earning 11 of the 20 first-place votes. One day after the release of the previous rating, Milligan ran in the Pirate Cross Country Invitational, where they finished fourth out of 20 teams as a squad as their lone race during the current rating period.

Click HERE to view the release at NAIA.org.

The full rating is listed below:

POSITION	LAST TIME	SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES]	POINTS
1	1	Milligan (Tenn.) [11]	578
2	2	Taylor (Ind.) [7]	577
3	3	Saint Mary (Kan.) [2]	551
4	4	The Master's (Calif.) [1]	544
5	6	College of Idaho	506
6	5	Cumberlands (Ky.)	494
7	8	Dordt (Iowa)	474
8	7	Montreat (N.C.)	466
9	9	Southern Oregon	439
10	10	Grace (Ind.)	417
11	13	Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)	386
12	12	SCAD Savannah (Ga.)	382
13	14	Indiana Wesleyan	356
14	16	Cornerstone (Mich.)	324
15	15	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	307
16	20	Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)	303
17	18	Kansas Wesleyan	288
18	22	Aquinas (Mich.)	252
19	21	Mount Mercy (Iowa)	231
20	11	Saint Francis (Ill.)	227
21	19	Carroll (Mont.)	224
22	RV	Marian (Ind.)	191
23	23	Goshen (Ind.)	168
24	25	SCAD Atlanta (Ga.)	161
25	23	Oklahoma City	159

Dropped from the Top 25: Huntington (Ind.)

Receiving Votes: Benedictine (Kan.) 110, Eastern Oregon 57, Montana Tech 54, Evangel (Mo.) 44, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 33, Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 29, Cumberland (Tenn.) 29, Concordia (Neb.) 22, Doane (Neb.) 14, William Woods (Mo.) 11, UC Merced (Calif.) 7, College of Saint Mary (Neb.) 2