Milligan, Montreat Land in Top 10 of NAIA Women's Cross Country Poll
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Two Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) teams received votes in the NAIA Women's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 Poll, the national organization announced on Thursday.
Milligan leads the way as it is ranked No. 2 with 471 voting points and three first-place votes. Meanwhile, Montreat checks in at No. 8 with 369 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 | 3 | St. Mary (Kan.) [6] | 479 |
| 2 | 2 | Milligan (Tenn.) [3] | 471 |
| 3 | 5 | The Master's (Calif.) [5] | 468 |
| 4 | 4 | Taylor (Ind.) [2] | 460 |
| 5 | 16 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 434 |
| 6 | 1 | College of Idaho [2] | 419 |
| 7 | 6 | Dordt (Iowa) | 393 |
| 8 | 9 | Montreat (N.C.) | 369 |
| 9 | 13 | Indiana Wesleyan | 362 |
| 10 | 10 | St. Francis (Ill.) | 358 |
| 11 | 7 | Southern Oregon | 353 |
| 12 | 11 | Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) | 323 |
| 13 | 12 | Huntington (Ind.) | 289 |
| 14 | 18 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 277 |
| 15 | 19 | SCAD Savannah (Ga.) | 271 |
| 16 | 13 | Grace (Ind.) | 263 |
| 17 | 23 | Cornerstone (Mich.) | 249 |
| 18 | 25 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 243 |
| 19 | 22 | Montana Tech | 216 |
| 20 | 8 | Concordia (Neb.) | 179 |
| 21 | 21 | Benedictine (Kan.) | 176 |
| 22 | 24 | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | 152 |
| 23 | RV | Missouri Baptist | 112 |
| 24 | RV | Aquinas (Mich.) | 105 |
| 25 | RV | Mount Mercy (Iowa) | 103 |
Receiving Votes: Carroll (Mont.) 100, Marian (Ind.) 87, Kansas Wesleyan 49, Oklahoma City 48, Doane (Neb.) 37, Blue Mountain Christian (Miss.) 29, Goshen (Ind.) 28, IU East (Ind.) 19, William Carey (Miss.) 15, Hastings (Neb.) 13, Eastern Oregon 6, John Brown (Ark.) 5, Dickinson State (N.D.) 5, Indiana Tech 2, William Woods (Mo.) 2, Oregon Tech 2