2015 NAIA Women’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 5 (Oct. 14)
NCU No. 1, CI, No. 6, SOU No. 17, OIT No. 21
By Scott Barker, Communications and Sports Information Intern
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Northwest Christian (Ore.) is the No. 1 team in the fifth regular-season NAIA Women’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Poll the national office announced on Wednesday. The sixth regular-season poll will be released on Oct. 21.
Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 1999):
• Northwest Christian is No. 1 after receiving all 19 first-place votes for a total of 529 points. This is the third time this season the Beacons are No. 1. This is the first time in school history Northwest Christian is No. 1 in back-to-back weeks.
• There are two newcomers to the Top 25 – No. 23 Saint Xavier (Ill.) and No. 25 Tennessee Wesleyan.
• This is the first Top 25 ranking for Saint Xavier since the 2012 preseason poll conducted on Aug. 22.
• Trinity Christian (Ill.) (formerly No. 24) and Cornerstone (formerly No. 25) were the only two teams to drop out of the Top 25.
• Doane (Neb.) highlighted the positive movement as they moved up three spots from No. 22 to No. 19.
• British Columbia had the biggest drop in the poll as it fell four spots from No. 3 to No. 7.
• Former NAIA-member Simon Fraser (B.C.) has the most all-time No. 1 rankings with 40.
• No. 13 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) makes its 140th-consecutive appearance in the Top 25, the longest active streak in the NAIA, dating back to Sept. 21, 2001.
• Twelve of the 21 conferences are represented in the Top 25.
• The Cascade Collegiate Conference leads all leagues with four teams represented in the Top 25 – Northwest Christian, No. 6 College of Idaho, No. 17 Southern Oregon and No. 21 Oregon Tech.
• The Golden State Athletic Conference, Frontier Conference, Great Plains Athletic Conference, and the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference each have three teams represented.
• There is only three teams to go the entire season ranked No. 1 – British Columbia (2013), Simon Fraser (2005, 2006 and 2007) and Northwest (Wash.) (2003).
Poll Methodology
• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and the Association of Independent Institutions.
• 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 ratings) 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 appears on.
• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes”
• For the complete Top 25 calendar, click
here.
2015 Women’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – No. 4 (Oct. 7)
| RANK |
LAST |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
FINAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
Northwest Christian (Ore.) (19) |
529 |
| 2 |
2 |
Aquinas (Mich.) |
512 |
| 3 |
4 |
Biola (Calif.) |
490 |
| 4 |
5 |
Taylor (Ind.) |
476 |
| 5 |
6 |
Carroll (Mont.) |
451 |
| 6 |
7 |
College of Idaho |
441 |
| 7 |
3 |
British Columbia |
417 |
| 8 |
8 |
The Master’s (Calif.) |
412 |
| 9 |
9 |
Dordt (Iowa) |
396 |
| 10 |
11 |
Indiana Wesleyan |
388 |
| 11 |
10 |
Shawnee State (Ohio) |
367 |
| 12 |
14 |
St. Francis (Ill.) |
337 |
| 13 |
12 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
325 |
| 14 |
13 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
318 |
| 15 |
16 |
Benedictine (Kan.) |
273 |
| 16 |
17 |
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) |
269 |
| 17 |
15 |
Southern Oregon |
251 |
| 18 |
18 |
Oklahoma City |
225 |
| 19 |
22 |
Doane (Neb.) |
222 |
| 20 |
19 |
Milligan (Tenn.) |
208 |
| 21 |
18 |
Oregon Tech |
204 |
| 22 |
20 |
Concordia (Neb.) |
183 |
| 23 |
NR |
Saint Xavier (Ill.) |
132 |
| 24 |
23 |
Siena Heights (Mich.) |
123 |
| 25 |
RV |
Tennessee Wesleyan |
119 |
| |
|
|
|
Dropped from the Top 25: Trinity Christian (Ill.); Cornerstone (Mich.)
Others receiving votes: Texas Wesleyan 87; Morningside (Iowa) 74; Trinity Christian (Ill.) 62; Mount Mercy (Iowa) 50; Marian (Ind.) 45; Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 31; Southeastern (Fla.) 22; Hastings (Neb.) 10; Cornerstone (Mich.) 6.