KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Taylor (Ind.) is the top-rated team in NAIA Women's Cross Country to begin the 2025 season, returning the NAIA's individual national champion to help claim the top spot in the 2025 NAIA Women'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 70th-Annual NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship, at Apalachee Regional Park on Nov. 21.
Kansas Wesleyan is ranked No. 13 in the preseason poll, equaling the team's highest rating last season. KWU finished 14
th at last year's NAIA National Championships headlined by a Top 50 finish by senior
Madisyn Ehrlich.
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".
