2025 NJCAA DI Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 1

NEW ORLEANS – Outside of the top-3, change was everywhere in the Week 1 edition of the 2025 NJCAA Division I Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll, which was released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

But even among the top-3 there was change in that No. 1 Odessa (Texas) gained the two remaining first-place votes it didn’t receive in the preseason poll.

The 2025 NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championships are scheduled for Saturday, November 8 at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

National Coaches’ Polls are presented by AthleticNET.

NJCAA Division I — Women's Cross Country
This Week's National Top Five
Odessa (Texas)
Iowa Western CC
New Mexico JC
Crowder (Mo.)
Southern Idaho
1
Odessa (Texas)
2
Iowa Western CC
3
New Mexico JC
4
Crowder (Mo.)
5
Southern Idaho
Cross Country Polls & Rankings

Unanimous No. 1 Odessa has been led by freshman Milicent Wafula, who is undefeated after winning Abilene Christian’s Naimadu Classic and the Texas Tech Open. She led a 1-2-3 finish in the 4k Naimadu race (13:36.5) and earned M-F National Athlete of the Week honors with her most recent effort, 20:49.1 over 6k to win the Texas Tech Open by 20.3 seconds. She’s in her first collegiate cross country season after winning the NJCAA DI Outdoor 800 in the spring and finishing runner-up in the 1500 and 5000. Odessa finished third in the team standings in the latter meet behind NCAA DII No. 2 West Texas A&M and host Texas Tech.

No. 2 Iowa Western CC was the top JUCO team at the Platte River Rumble Gold. The Reivers are also led by a strong individual in Juliana Sakat, last week’s M-F National Athlete of the Week after winning the Platte River Rumble Gold 5k by 19.5 seconds in 17:02.1. Sakat is also in her first collegiate cross country season – earlier this year in track & field she contributed 42½ team points at the NJCAA Indoor Championships and 31½ points at the NJCAA DI Outdoor Championships, winning all seven individual events she entered.

Continuing at No. 3 is New Mexico JC. The T-Birds were the second JUCO squad at the Texas Tech Open without the services of No. 1 runner Yiddiya Bifa, a transfer from Iowa Central CC who was third individually at last year’s nationals. Bifa won her season opener at the Lori Fitzgerald Memorial in 17:32.9 for 5k.

Moving up a spot to No. 4 is Crowder (Mo.) in matching a program high. The Roughriders were the top JUCO team at both the City Auto Memphis Classic and Southwestern Baptist Bearcat Invitational. Each time they were led by freshman Vivian Kiprono, who won the latter race in 17:51.1 for 5k.

No. 5 Southern Idaho dropped a notch despite being the leading JUCO program in both of its meets thus far, the Utah Valley Invitational and their own Dr. Thad Scholes Classic. Both times Edith Neslen has led the way for the Golden Eagles.

Rounding out the top-10 are No. 6 El Paso (Texas) CC, No. 7 Snow (Utah), No. 8 Iowa Central CC, No. 9 Ranger (Texas) and No. 10 Hutchinson (Kan.) CC.

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USTFCCCA NJCAA Division I
Women's Cross Country National Coaches' Poll

2025 Week 1 - September 17th

RANK TEAM & INFOPTSCHANGE
1 odessa-texas ODESSA (TEXAS)
West Region
Region 5
Chris Beene (2nd)
200
(10 fpv)
◀▶
(LW: 1)
2 iowa-western-cc IOWA WESTERN CC
Midwest Region
Region 11
Marc Bierbaum (8th)
190 ◀▶
(LW: 2)
3 new-mexico-jc NEW MEXICO JC
West Region
Region 5
Jeff Becker (13th)
178 ◀▶
(LW: 3)
4 crowder-mo CROWDER (MO.)
Midwest Region
Region 16
Jake Holt (4th)
165 ▲ 1
(LW: 5)
5 southern-idaho SOUTHERN IDAHO
Midwest Region
Region 18
Janae Richardson (4th)
161 ▼ 1
(LW: 4)
6 el-paso-texas-cc EL PASO (TEXAS) CC
West Region
Region 5
Miguel Bonilla (1st)
145 ▲ 8
(LW: 14)
7 snow-utah SNOW (UTAH)
Midwest Region
Region 18
Chase Englestead (2nd)
141 ▲ 3
(LW: 10)
8 iowa-central-cc IOWA CENTRAL CC
Midwest Region
Region 11
Dee Brown (22nd)
124 ▲ 1
(LW: 9)
9 ranger-texas RANGER (TEXAS)
West Region
Region 5
James Majenge (2nd)
122 ▼ 3
(LW: 6)
10 hutchinson-kan-cc HUTCHINSON (KAN.) CC
Central Region
Region 6
Jafet Molinares (3rd)
95 ▲ 5
(LW: 15)
11 vincennes-ind VINCENNES (IND.)
Midwest Region
Region 24
Tyler Steigenga (2nd)
91 ▲ 5
(LW: 16)
12 central-arizona CENTRAL ARIZONA
West Region
Region 1
Jonathon Harmon (15th)
88 ▲ 7
(LW: 19)
13 garden-city-kan-cc GARDEN CITY (KAN.) CC
Central Region
Region 6
Juliette Rios (3rd)
72 ▼ 6
(LW: 7)
14 indian-hills-iowa-cc INDIAN HILLS (IOWA) CC
Midwest Region
Region 11
Brent Ewing (8th)
67 ▼ 2
(LW: 12)
15 butler-kan-cc BUTLER (KAN.) CC
Central Region
Region 6
Mark Emerson (5th)
63 ▼ 7
(LW: 8)
16 southern-nevada SOUTHERN NEVADA
West Region
Region 18
Bryan Astudillo (5th)
60 ▲ 5
(LW: 21)
17 amarillo-texas AMARILLO (TEXAS)
West Region
Region 5
Sean Hargrove (4th)
48 ▼ 4
(LW: 13)
18 blinn-texas BLINN (TEXAS)
Atlantic Region
Region 14
Jesse Parker (2nd)
40 ▼ 7
(LW: 11)
19 salt-lake-utah-cc SALT LAKE (UTAH) CC
Midwest Region
Region 18
Griffin Humphreys (1st)
23 ▲ 3
(LW: 22)
20 dodge-city-kan-cc DODGE CITY (KAN.) CC
Central Region
Region 6
Cole Ballard (13th)
22 ▼ 2
(LW: 18)
21 pima-ariz-cc PIMA (ARIZ.) CC
West Region
Region 1
Chad Harrison (2nd)
5 ▲ 2
(LW: 23)

Dropped Out: No. 17 Seminole State (Fla.), No. 20 Cloud County (Kan.) CC, No. 24 Hill (Texas), No. 25 Neosho County (Kan.) CC



Week-by-Week Ranking

TeamPreseasonWeek #1Week #2Week #3Week #4
Odessa (Texas)11111
Iowa Western CC22222
El Paso (Texas) CC146743
New Mexico JC33334
Hutchinson (Kan.) CC15101185
Ranger (Texas)69866
Southern Idaho45457
Crowder (Mo.)54578
Butler (Kan.) CC81513129
Indian Hills (Iowa) CC1214121410
Central Arizona191291011
Cloud County (Kan.) CC20201912
Snow (Utah)10761113
Garden City (Kan.) CC713141314
Iowa Central CC9810915
Vincennes (Ind.)1611151516
Amarillo (Texas)1317161717
Southern Nevada2116171618
Blinn (Texas)1118192019
Salt Lake (Utah) CC2219221820
Dodge City (Kan.) CC1820182121
Hill (Texas)24212222
Pima (Ariz.) CC2321232323
Western Texas242424
North Central TexasRVRV25
Meridian (Miss.) CCRV
Colby (Kan.) CC25
Neosho County (Kan.) CC2525RV
Seminole State (Fla.)17RV

USTFCCCA NJCAA Division I Cross Country

2025 Rankings & Polls Calendar
Weeks National Coaches' Poll KEY DATES
PreseasonWed 8/27
MEN | WOMEN
Week 1Wed 9/17
MEN | WOMEN
Week 2Wed 10/1
MEN | WOMEN
Week 3Wed 10/15
MEN | WOMEN
Week 4Wed 10/29
MEN | WOMEN
FINAL Results
(official final ranking)
Sat 11/8