KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Master's (Calif.), which enters the year atop the 2025 NAIA Men's Cross Country Preseason Coaches' Top 25.
 
The preseason Top 25 is the first step in a march toward Tallahassee, Fla., where the season culminates with the 70^th Annual NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship, at Apalachee Regional Park on Nov. 21. 
 
Kansas Wesleyan was ranked No. 23 in the poll, which nearly mirrored the team's finish from a year ago at the NAIA National Championships, where the Coyotes finished 22^nd as a team.
 
The Coyotes return a large portion of last year's team that was second in the KCAC and earned the NAIA Nationals bid for a second straight season.
 
KWU opens its cross country season on September 6, running in the JK Gold Classic, hosted by Wichita State University in Wichita.
 
Ratings Methodology

• The rating is rated by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and unaffiliated groupings.
• The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each rater rates the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place, 28 for third-place and so on through the list.
• The highest and lowest ratings for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) are removed. The team's rating will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the team appears on.
• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered "receiving votes".