2017 NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 3

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Aquinas (Mich.) takes over the No. 1 ranking in the third regular season NAIA Women’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Wednesday.

Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 1999):

• Aquinas earned nine first place votes and 579 total points to claim the No. 1 spot.
• This is the first No. 1 ranking in program history for the Saints.
• Joining the Top 25 for the first time in 2017 is Northwestern (Iowa) at No. 23 and Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) at No. 25.
• Simon Fraser (B.C.) currently holds the record for the most No. 1 rankings with 41.
• College of Idaho holds the longest streak of consecutive Top 25 rankings with 70 straight polls, followed by Carroll (Mont.) with 61 straight.

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.”