Milligan, Montreat Maintain NAIA Top 10 Presence
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 received eight first-place votes in garnering 571 voting points, putting the Buffaloes at No. 2.
Montreat is next in line, landing at No. 9 with 430 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 WEEK | SCHOOL [1st Place Votes] | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 3 | Indiana Wesleyan [11] | 578 |
| 2 | 1 | Milligan (Tenn.) [8] | 571 |
| 3 | 4 | The Master's (Calif.) | 542 |
| 4 | 7 | Saint Mary (Kan.) [2] | 540 |
| 5 | 2 | Dordt (Iowa) | 504 |
| 6 | 5 | Oklahoma City | 495 |
| 7 | 6 | College of Idaho | 486 |
| 8 | 9 | Eastern Oregon | 435 |
| 9 | 10 | Montreat (N.C.) | 430 |
| 10 | 21 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 408 |
| 11 | 16 | Grace (Ind.) | 403 |
| 12 | 15 | Aquinas (Mich.) | 388 |
| 13 | 11 | Taylor (Ind.) | 361 |
| 14 | 8 | St. Francis (Ill.) | 331 |
| 15 | 12 | Southern Oregon | 329 |
| 16 | 13 | Goshen (Ind.) | 325 |
| 17 | 14 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 274 |
| 18 | 19 | Shawnee State (Ohio) | 254 |
| 19 | 20 | Carroll (Mont.) | 239 |
| 20 | 22 | Huntington (Ind.) | 222 |
| 21 | 17 | Oregon Tech | 189 |
| 22 | 17 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 171 |
| 23 | NR | UC Merced | 142 |
| 24 | RV | Kansas Wesleyan | 111 |
| 25 | RV | Montana Tech | 104 |
Others Receiving Votes: Northwest (Wash.) 87, Doane (Neb.) 74, Lawrence Tech (Mich.) 58, Benedictine (Kan.) 57, Campbellsville (Ky.) 47, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 37, Cornerstone (Mich.) 37, Texas Wesleyan 35, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 34, Corban (Ore.) 24, Concordia (Neb.) 21, Marian (Ind.) 11, Southeastern (Fla.) 7, John Brown (Ark.) 6, Trinity Christian (Ill.) 4, Indiana East (Ind.) 3