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
1
Odessa (Texas)
Odessa (Texas)
2
Iowa Western CC
Iowa Western CC
3
New Mexico JC
New Mexico JC
4
Crowder (Mo.)
Crowder (Mo.)
5
Southern Idaho
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.
