2016 Men’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Poll 4 (Oct. 26)
SOU No. 3, CI No. 7, EOU No. 15, OIT 25, NCU RV
By Spencer Scheve, Communications & Sports Information Intern
KANSAS CITY, Mo – British Columbia remains with the No. 1 ranking in the 2016 NAIA Men’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the NAIA national office announced Wednesday. The final Coaches’ Top 25 Poll will be released by 7 p.m. CDT on Sunday, Nov. 6. NAIA National Championship qualifiers will be released by 5 p.m. CDT on Monday, Nov. 7.
Top 25 highlights (historical information dates back to 2001):
• British Columbia remains the No. 1-ranked team in the Top 25 Poll, garnering 19 first-place votes and 560 points.
• This is the Thunderbirds third-straight No. 1 ranking and most in British Columbia history.
• Coming in at No. 2 is St. Francis (Ill.), which earned one first-place vote and 539 points. The Saints have been active in the top five for the last 15 polls.
• Rounding out the top five is Southern Oregon at No. 3 with 527 points, Marian (Ind.) at No. 4 with 497 points and Biola (Calif.) at No. 5 with 491 points.
• There is one new team in the top 10 – No. 10 Shawnee State (Ohio).
•The biggest moves in the Top 25 is Taylor (Ind.) falling from No. 8 to No. 23, Shawnee State climbing from No. 24 to No. 10 and Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) dropping from No. 17 to No. 22.
• The Cascade Collegiate Conference leads the NAIA with four teams in the Top 25 – Southern Oregon, No. 7 College of Idaho, No. 15 Eastern Oregon and No. 25 Oregon Tech.
• There are four conferences tied for second most schools in the Top 25 -- Golden State Athletic Conference, Crossroads League, Sooner Athletic Conference and the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tied at three.
• No. 18 Aquinas (Mich.) extends its streak of being in the Top 25 poll to an NAIA-best 160-consecutive mentions, dating back to Aug. 22, 2000.
• Only three programs have gone the entire season ranked No. 1 – Oklahoma City (2014), former NAIA member Malone (Ohio) (2008) and former NAIA member Lindenwood (Mo.) (2007).
• There are two new teams in the Top 25 –No. 14 Bethel (Ind.) and No. 24 Wayland Baptist (Texas).
• The last time Bethel was ranked was Sept. 28, when the Pilots were ranked No. 22.
• The last time Wayland Baptist was ranked was Aug. 24, when the Pioneers were ranked No. 25 in the preseason poll.
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"
• The frequency of polls occur bi-weekly for the 2016 season.
• For the complete Top 25 calendar, click
here.
2016 NAIA Men’s Cross Country Coaches’ Regular Season Top 25 Poll – (Oct. 26)
| RANK |
LAST |
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
British Columbia (19) |
560 |
| 2 |
2 |
St. Francis (Ill.) (1) |
539 |
| 3 |
3 |
Southern Oregon |
527 |
| 4 |
5 |
Marian (Ind.) |
497 |
| 5 |
4 |
Biola (Calif.) |
491 |
| 6 |
6 |
Oklahoma City |
468 |
| 7 |
7 |
College of Idaho |
438 |
| 8 |
9 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
406 |
| 9 |
10 |
Missouri Valley |
389 |
| 10 |
24 |
Shawnee State (Ohio) |
383 |
| 11 |
15 |
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) |
375 |
| 12 |
11 |
The Master’s (Calif.) |
371 |
| 13 |
14 |
SCAD Savannah (Ga.) |
351 |
| 14 |
NR |
Bethel (Ind.) |
305 |
| 15 |
16 |
Eastern Oregon |
301 |
| 16 |
18 |
Northwestern (Iowa) |
287 |
| 17 |
19 |
Cornerstone (Mich.) |
261 |
| 18 |
12 |
Aquinas (Mich.) |
241 |
| 19 |
13 |
Saint Mary (Kan.) |
222 |
| 20 |
22 |
Indiana Tech |
208 |
| 21 |
20 |
Bacone (Okla.) |
196 |
| 22 |
11 |
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
184 |
| 23 |
8 |
Taylor (Ind.) |
174 |
| 24 |
NR |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
166 |
| 25 |
21 |
Oregon Tech |
138 |
| |
|
|
|
Others receiving votes: Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 124; Dordt (Iowa) 87; Columbia (Mo.) 55; Milligan (Tenn.) 51; Madonna (Mich.) 35; Rio Grande (Ohio) 33; Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 20;
Northwest Christian (Ore.)16; Vanguard (Calif.) 15; Cumberlands (Ky.)8; Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 4
^Based off 2016 Coaches’ Poll (Oct. 12, 2016)