Milligan, Montreat Sit in Top 10 of NAIA Men's Cross Country Poll
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Two Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) teams reign in the top 10 of the NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 Poll, the national organization announced on Thursday.
Milligan sits No. 1. The Buffaloes collected 20 first-place votes in compiling 560 voting points to earn the top spot.
Montreat is next in line, landing at No. 10 with 401 voting points.
Poll Methodology
• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences.
• Each conference is represented by one rater.
• The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.
• The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) is removed and the team's ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appear on.
• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered "receiving votes."
| RANK | LAST TIME | INSTITUTION [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | POINTS |
| 1 | 2 | Milligan (Tenn.) [20] | 560 |
| 2 | 4 | Saint Mary (Kan.) | 536 |
| 3 | 8 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 530 |
| 4 | 1 | Indiana Wesleyan | 498 |
| 5 | 7 | College of Idaho | 476 |
| 6 | 3 | The Master's (Calif.) | 472 |
| 7 | 5 | Eastern Oregon | 451 |
| 8 | 10 | Taylor (Ind.) | 437 |
| 9 | 6 | Dordt (Iowa) | 418 |
| 10 | 9 | Montreat (N.C.) | 401 |
| 11 | 20 | Oklahoma City | 390 |
| 12 | 16 | Doane (Neb.) | 357 |
| 13 | 15 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 329 |
| 14 | 21 | Kansas Wesleyan | 295 |
| 15 | 18 | Carroll (Mont.) | 282 |
| 16 | 22 | Aquinas (Mich.) | 276 |
| 17 | 12 | Saint Francis (Ill.) | 274 |
| 18 | RV | Spring Arbor (Mich.) | 243 |
| 19 | RV | Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) | 205 |
| 20 | 14 | Shawnee State (Ohio) | 187 |
| 21 | 11 | Goshen (Ind.) | 186 |
| 22 | RV | Corban (Ore.) | 170 |
| 23 | RV | Marian (Ind.) | 158 |
| 24 | 24 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 151 |
| 25 | RV | Rio Grande (Ohio) | 135 |
Receiving Votes: Grace (Ind.) 113, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 103, Southern Oregon 88, Campbellsville (Ky.) 61, IU East (Ind.) 54, UC Merced (Calif.) 18, Montana Tech 13, John Brown (Ark.) 8, William Woods (Mo.) 5, William Carey (Miss.) 4, Cornerstone (Mich.) 4, Benedictine (Kan.) 4, Madonna (Mich.) 2