2017 NAIA Men’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 1

By Trevor Lininger, Athletic Communications and Media Intern

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Defending champion Southern Oregon will remain at the No. 1 spot in the first NAIA Men’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Poll of the 2017 regular season, the national office announced Wednesday.

Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 1999)

• Southern Oregon has now earned 32 total No. 1 rankings in school history, with 20 in the last five years.
• The Raiders of Southern Oregon garnered 16 first place votes in this poll
• Madonna (Mich.) and Indiana Tech made the jump into the Top 25 for the first time in 2017
• Southern Oregon holds the record for the most No. 1 appearances with a total of 32
• The longest active streak of being in the top 25 also belongs to Southern Oregon, with 86 straight appearances dating back to 2008

Poll Methodology

• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences.
• Each conference is given one rater for every four schools in the league.
• The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 25 points for each first-place vote, 24 for second-place and so on through the list.
• The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appear on.
• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes.”

This coaches’ poll is conducted by the NAIA national office. These institutions are not necessarily members of the USTFCCCA.