2022 NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Shaking it up!
Defending champion Milligan (Tenn.) is No. 1 in the Week 1 edition of the NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll, which was released on Thursday by the NAIA National Office. That puts the Buffs in the same spot as the preseason version, but every other position in the top-25 got shuffled.
NAIA — Women's Cross Country
This Week's National Top Five
1
Milligan (Tenn.)
Milligan (Tenn.)
2
Taylor (Ind.)
Taylor (Ind.)
3
St. Francis (Ill.)
St. Francis (Ill.)
4
Saint Mary (Kan.)
Saint Mary (Kan.)
5
The Master's (Calif.)
The Master's (Calif.)
Cross Country Polls & Rankings
Milligan – the defending NAIA national champions and proud owners of 16 first-place votes – have competed just once thus far in 2022, taking fourth as the top NAIA program in the Covered Bridge Open on September 2.
Meanwhile, Taylor (Ind.) is at No. 2 after winning last weekend’s Ray Bullock Invitational a week after taking top honors at the Indiana Wesleyan Twilight. The Trojans earned two first-place votes from the coaches.
No. 3 St. Francis (Ill.), No. 4 Saint Mary (Kan.) and No. 5 The Master’s (Calif.) are right in the thick of it as well. The third-ranked Saints and the fourth-ranked Spires snagged one first-place vote each.
Here are the rest of the top-10 teams in Week 1: No. 6 College of Idaho, No. 7 Cornerstone (Mich.), No. 8 Grace (Ind.), No. 9 Indiana Wesleyan, No. 10 Southern Oregon.
The 2022 NAIA Cross Country Championships are scheduled to be held Friday, November 18, at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida. This is the first time in the 43-year history of the NAIA women’s championships that the race will be held in the Sunshine State.
