Milligan Tops NAIA Poll; Two Other AAC Teams Ranked
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Three 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 climbed to No. 1 with 492 voting points and eight first-place votes.
Meanwhile, Montreat checks in at No. 7 with 400 voting points, and SCAD Atlanta is 24th with 104 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."
| ANK | LAST TIME | INSTITUTION [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 2 | Milligan (Tenn.) [8] | 492 |
| 2 | 1 | Saint Mary (Kan.) [4] | 487 |
| 3 | 3 | The Master's (Calif.) [3] | 478 |
| 4 | 4 | Taylor (Ind.) [4] | 477 |
| 5 | 5 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 444 |
| 6 | 6 | College of Idaho | 422 |
| 7 | 8 | Montreat (N.C.) | 400 |
| 8 | 7 | Dordt (Iowa) | 393 |
| 9 | 11 | Southern Oregon | 368 |
| 10 | 10 | St. Francis (Ill.) | 350 |
| 11 | 16 | Grace (Ind.) | 323 |
| 12 | 12 | Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) | 322 |
| 13 | 15 | SCAD Savanah (Ga.) | 294 |
| 14 | 14 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 285 |
| 15 | 9 | Indiana Wesleyan | 281 |
| 16 | 13 | Huntington (Ind.) | 243 |
| 17 | 17 | Cornerstone (Mich.) | 242 |
| 18 | RV | Kansas Wesleyan | 196 |
| 19 | RV | Carroll (Mont.) | 196 |
| 20 | 18 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 194 |
| 21 | 24 | Aquinas (Mich.) | 163 |
| 22 | 25 | Mount Mercy (Iowa) | 130 |
| 23 | 22 | Rocky Mountain (Mont.) | 122 |
| 24 | NR | SCAD Atlanta (Ga.) | 104 |
| 25 | 20 | Concordia (Neb.) | 93 |
Receiving Votes: Montana Tech 68, Marian (Ind.) 65, Oklahoma City 64, Eastern Oregon 37, Doane (Neb.) 36, Saint Mary (Neb.) 20, Benedictine (Kan.) 19, Campbellsville (Ky.) 13, Cumberland (Tenn.) 11, Missouri Baptist 10, William Woods (Mo.) 5, Dalton (Ga.) 4, Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 3, UC Merced (Calif.) 3, St. Francis (Ind.) 2