2024 NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Preseason
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Saint Mary (Kan.) is No. 1 in leading five programs that received multiple first-place votes in the preseason edition of the 2024 NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll, which was released on Thursday by the NAIA National Office.
NAIA — Women's Cross Country
This Week's National Top Five
1
Saint Mary (Kan.)
Saint Mary (Kan.)
2
Milligan (Tenn.)
Milligan (Tenn.)
3
The Master's (Calif.)
The Master's (Calif.)
4
Taylor (Ind.)
Taylor (Ind.)
5
Cumberlands (Ky.)
Cumberlands (Ky.)
Cross Country Polls & Rankings
The Spires collected the most top votes – six of the poll’s 23 that were spread among five programs – after a program-best finish of third in last year’s NAIA Championships.
No. 2 Milligan (Tenn.) earned three top votes. The Buffaloes finished fourth last year after being runners-up in 2022 following their 2021 national title.
The Master’s (Calif.) had the second-highest total of first-place votes with five in landing at No. 3. The Mustangs posted a program-best runner-up finish last year.
No. 4 is Taylor (Ind.), the 2022 national champs. The Trojans earned a pair of first-place votes and have finished in the top-5 in each of the last four years.
The only new program among the top-5 is Cumberlands (Ky.) at No. 5. The Patriots finished a program-best ninth last year.
The fifth team to receive first-place votes is defending champ College of Idaho, checking in at No. 6.
Rounding out the top-10 are No. 7 Dordt (Iowa), No. 8 Montreat (N.C.), No. 9 Indiana Wesleyan and No. 10 St. Francis (Ill.).
The 2024 NAIA Cross Country Championships are scheduled to be held Friday, November 22, at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Missouri.
