KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The 2025 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Men's and Women's Cross Country season officially begins next week, on Thursday, August 28. One week removed from races, the Association has announced the results of its Preseason Coaches' Top-25 Polls. Both the Carroll College Men's and Women's programs find themselves within the Top-25, as the Men start at No. 12 and the Women No. 24.

For the Carroll Men, 2025's No. 12 Preseason rank marks the highest starting position for the program since the 2015 season (No. 5). The Fighting Saints will be picking up right where they left off, as the 2024 team secured a 12th-place finish at the NAIA National Championships last November.

The four-time defending Frontier Conference Champions have plenty of reason for optimism in 2025, and will return significant pieces from last year's team that had the highest finish in nearly a decade.

The Men spent nearly the entirety of the 2024 season in the Top-25, and entered the NAIA Championship at No. 25 in the final poll before their impressive showing at the final, and most important, event of the season.

Rocky Mountain College, whom Carroll edged out at the '24 Frontier Championship by just one point (32-33), is the lone other Frontier Conference institution inside the Top-25 at No. 17, while both Montana Tech and Bellevue are in the receiving votes portion of the poll.

The Saints are right on the cusp of a Top-10 ranking, as the No. 10-12 teams in the NAIA are separated by only seven points.

The Carroll Women will also begin the season inside of the nation's Top-25, checking in at No. 24 in the preseason poll.

An up-and-down 2024 season saw the Carroll Women peak at No. 19 in the NAIA poll, before ultimately finishing as a receiving votes team in the final poll of the year.

The Saints saw their run of Frontier titles come to a close with a second place finish at the conference meet last November, but are primed and ready to compete for the throne once again.

Montana Tech is the lone other Frontier team in the Women's Top-25, appearing just one spot in font of Carroll at No. 23, while Dakota State appears in the receiving votes portion of the poll.

The preseason Top 25 is the first step in a march toward Tallahassee, Fla., where the season culminates with the 70th-Annual NAIA  Cross Country National Championship, at Apalachee Regional Park on Nov. 21. 

Below are the full NAIA Top-25 Polls:

NAIA Men's Cross Country Preseason Coaches' Poll

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RANK	INSTITUTION	POINTS
1	The Master's (Calif.)	496
2	Milligan (Tenn.)	486
3	Taylor (Ind.)	471
4	Cumberlands (Ky.)	465
5	Marian (Ind.)	421
6	Spring Arbor (Mich.)	409
7	College of Idaho	382
8	Indiana Wesleyan	365
9	Corban (Ore.)	363
10	Saint Mary (Kan.)	358
11	Eastern Oregon	333
12	Carroll (Mont.)	331
13	Indiana-East	324
14	Doane (Neb.)	307
15	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	254
16	Aquinas (Mich.)	238
17	Rocky Mountain (Mont.)	230
18	Dordt (Iowa)	219
T-19	Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)	177
T-19	Montreat (N.C.)	177
21	Goshen (Ind.)	113
22	Southern Oregon	112
23	Kansas Wesleyan	110
24	Shawnee State (Ohio)	107
25	Rio Grande (Ohio)	100

Receiving Votes: St. Francis (Ill.) 93, Trinity Western (B.C.) 84, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 68, Mount Mercy (Iowa) 31, Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 30, Cornerstone (Mich.) 16, Tennessee Southern 15, Columbia (Mo.) 8, SCAD Atlanta (Ga.) 8, Indiana Tech 6, Montana Tech 6, SCAD Savannah (Ga.) 5, Bellevue (Neb.) 2.

NAIA Women's Cross Country Preseason Coaches' Poll

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RANK	INSTITUTION	POINTS
1	Taylor (Ind.)	507
2	Milligan (Tenn.)	488
3	The Master's (Calif.)	475
4	Cumberlands (Ky.)	436
5	Saint Mary (Kan.)	434
6	Marian (Ind.)	407
7	Grace (Ind.)	382
8	SCAD Savannah (Ga.)	380
9	Dordt (Iowa)	364
10	Montreat (N.C.)	359
11	Indiana Wesleyan	342
12	College of Idaho	329
13	Kansas Wesleyan	307
14	Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)	305
15	Cornerstone (Mich.)	271
16	Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)	252
17	Aquinas (Mich.)	216
18	SCAD Atlanta (Ga.)	212
19	Southern Oregon	201
20	Eastern Oregon	170
21	Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)	132
22	St. Francis (Ill.)	123
23	Montana Tech	121
24	Carroll (Mont.)	87
25	Oklahoma City	86

Receiving Votes: Benedictine (Kan.) 79, Mount Mercy (Iowa) 77, Saint Francis (Ind.) 65, Rio Grande (Ohio) 46, Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 15, Huntington (Ind.) 11, Saint Mary (Neb.) 11, Indiana Tech 8, Dakota State (S.D.) 7, Doane (Neb.) 6, Shawnee State (Ohio) 5, William Carey (Miss.) 5, John Brown (Ark.) 3, Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 3. 

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".

Both the Carroll Men and Women will begin their season next Friday, as they compete at the 2025 Bobcat Twilight Meet hosted by Montana State.

Be sure to visit www.carrollathletics.com to continue to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.