2025 NCAA DI Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Preseason
NEW ORLEANS – The return of cross country means that polls reign until championship season.
NCAA Division I — Women's Cross Country
This Week's National Top Five
1
BYU
BYU
2
Oregon
Oregon
3
NC State
NC State
4
New Mexico
New Mexico
5
West Virginia
West Virginia
Cross Country Polls & Rankings
Preseason polls can be taken different ways.
Take BYU, for example. The Cougars are a unanimous No. 1 in the preseason edition of the NCAA DI Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll released on Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
But last year BYU wasn’t among the two programs that tied for No. 1 in the preseason poll nor even a third that earned first-place votes. Instead, BYU started No. 6 and ended up taking home the national championship trophy in November.
How will this year’s preseason poll do? We’ll see – prior to last year it successfully predicted the actual winner twice, but that was after a stretch from 2014-21 when it didn’t (there was no preseason poll in 2020).
No. 1 BYU returns four from last year’s national-championship seven, including scorers Riley Chamberlain (31st) and Taylor Rohatinsky (43rd). Chamberlain has twice anchored BYU to NCAA Indoor distance medley titles and this summer lowered her 1500 best to 4:02.03. The Cougars have a major new addition in freshman Jane Hedengren, whose high school record setting included national bests last spring of 4:04.68 (1500), 4:23.50 (mile), 8:40.03 (3000), 9:17.75 (2-mile) and 14:57.93 (5000). Also returning to the roster is Jenna Hutchins, who led off last year’s DMR team and placed sixth in the 2023 NCAA 10,000 with a PR 32:44.05.
Oregon’s No. 2 preseason ranking is its highest since 2017. The Ducks – seeking their first national title since 2016 – were fifth last year and return four runners (three scorers), led by Silan Ayyildiz (13th) and Anika Thompson (32nd). That duo has impressive track credentials as well – Ayyildiz was fourth in the NCAA Indoor mile and Outdoor 1500 last year, while Thompson won the Euro U23 10,000 title this summer (32:31.47). Their group is bolstered by Diana Cherotich, who clocked 31:45.22 in the 10,000 this spring and was fifth in the World U20 Cross Country Championships in the spring of 2024, as well as Juliet Cherubet (11th last year and fifth in the 2024 NCAA 5000 in 15:25.41 while at Texas Tech) and Bahiya El Arfaoui (4:05.20 in the 1500 while at Eastern Kentucky).
No. 3 NC State had won three straight national titles before a disheartening eighth-place finish last year. The Wolfpack returns its entire top-7 that included two top-10 individuals in Grace Hartman (fifth) and Hannah Gapes (eighth). Hartman was runner-up in the NCAA 10,000 in June (31:20.60 to become No. 4 collegian all-time), and Angelina Napoleon (96th) similarly showed significant improvement in the track season, topped by USATF runner-up honors in the steeplechase and clocking 9:10.72 (No. 4 on the all-time, all-dates collegiate list). Several big new names join the roster, including Sadie Engelhardt, the 2024 Track & Field News track & field High School Athlete of the Year with a 1500 best 4:08.86.
New Mexico is No. 4 after finishing seventh last year. The Lobos are led by Pamela Kosgei, last year’s runner-up as a freshman and the NCAA Outdoor 5000 and 10,000 champion and moving to No. 2 or No. 3 collegiately all-time in those events plus the steeplechase. There were three other non-seniors on last year’s team, including freshman Mercy Kirarei (35th).
No. 5 West Virginia was runner-up last year for its highest finish in program history. Joy Naukot (17th) is one of four returners; her freshman year included a third place in June in the 10,000 at the NCAA Outdoor, clocking a PR 31:34.34 to become No. 6 collegiately all-time. Joining the harrier group for the first time will be freshman Naomi Kemboi, who ran 15:39.17 in the 5000 this spring.
Here are the rest of the top-10 teams: No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Providence, No. 8 Washington, No. 9 Alabama and No. 10 Northern Arizona. The Crimson Tide return 2024 individual champion Doris Lemngole, among others.
Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 22, because that’s when the 2025 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships will be held at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Missouri.
