Road to Tallahassee: NAIA Unveils 2025 Men’s Cross Country Championship Field

Nov 11, 2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Team and individual qualifiers for the 2025 NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship have been announced, as 36 teams set sights on a Red Banner at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla.

The championship will be broadcast on NAIA Network and Urban Edge Network. Visit NAIA.org/watch for links, including URLs, mobile apps, and smart TV information. The men's race is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET, and awards at approximately 11 a.m. ET.

Last season's national champion, the College of Idaho, is back in the 2025 field as an at-large qualifier, as well as the 2024 runner-up that finished just nine points back, Milligan (Tenn.), in as an automatic qualifier out of the Appalachian Athletic Conference.

In addition to the 23 automatic bids through conference qualification, 13 at-large selections were determined by the final edition of the 2025 NAIA Men's Cross Country Top 25 Coaches' Rating, reviewed by the rating’s Oversight Committee.

74 Individual Qualifiers also made the field, based on scoring finishes in conference meets. Visit NAIA.org later this week for a full preview of the 70th-Annual NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship.

Watch the Field Reveal on YouTube

INSTITUTION	CONFERENCE	HOW THEY QUALIFIED:
Columbia (Mo.)	American Midwest Conference	Conference Champion
Milligan (Tenn.)	Appalachian Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Montreat (N.C.)	Appalachian Athletic Conference	Conference Runner Up
Simpson (Calif.)	California Pacific Conference	Conference Champion
Eastern Oregon	Cascade Collegiate Conference	Conference Champion
St. Francis (Ill.)	Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Haskell (Kan.)	Continental Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Indiana Wesleyan	Crossroads League	Conference Champion
Rocky Mountain (Mont.)	Frontier Conference	Conference Champion
Doane (Neb.)	Great Plains Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
The Master's (Calif.)	Great Southwest Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Wiley (Texas)	HBCU Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Park (Mo.)	Heart of America Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Mount Mercy (Iowa)	Heart of America Athletic Conference	Conference Runner Up
Saint Mary (Kan.)	Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Kansas Wesleyan	Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference	Conference Runner Up
Cumberlands (Ky.)	Mid-South Conference	Conference Champion
Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)	Red River Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Rio Grande (Ohio)	River States Conference	Conference Champion
Oklahoma City	Sooner Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Mobile (Ala.)	Southern States Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Ave Maria (Fla.)	The Sun Conference	Conference Champion
Cornerstone (Mich.)	Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference	Conference Champion
Taylor (Ind.)	Crossroads League	At-Large Qualifier
Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)	Great Southwest Athletic Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Southern Oregon	Cascade Collegiate Conference	At-Large Qualifier
College of Idaho	Cascade Collegiate Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Spring Arbor (Mich.)	Crossroads League	At-Large Qualifier
Trinity Western (B.C.)	Cascade Collegiate Conference	At-Large Qualifier
IU East (Ind.)	River States Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Goshen (Ind.)	Crossroads League	At-Large Qualifier
Madonna (Mich.)	Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Carroll (Mont.)	Frontier Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Marian (Ind.)	Crossroads League	At-Large Qualifier
Corban (Ore.)	Cascade Collegiate Conference	At-Large Qualifier
Aquinas (Mich.)	Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference	At-Large Qualifier


<table class="table">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Rank</th>
      <th>University</th>
      <th>Points</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr><td>1</td><td>Oklahoma Wesleyan University (Okla.)</td><td>504</td></tr>
    <tr><td>2</td><td>MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.)</td><td>485</td></tr>
    <tr><td>3</td><td>Keiser University (Fla.)</td><td>456</td></tr>
    <tr><td>4</td><td>Bethel University (Ind.)</td><td>455</td></tr>
    <tr><td>5</td><td>Lindsey Wilson University (Ky.)</td><td>407</td></tr>
    <tr><td>6</td><td>University of the Cumberlands (Ky.)</td><td>397</td></tr>
    <tr><td>7</td><td>Louisiana State University Shreveport (La.)</td><td>374</td></tr>
    <tr><td>8</td><td>Indiana Wesleyan University (Ind.)</td><td>364</td></tr>
    <tr><td>9</td><td>William Carey University (Miss.)</td><td>354</td></tr>
    <tr><td>10</td><td>Life University (Ga.)</td><td>351</td></tr>
    <tr><td>11</td><td>Cumberland University (Tenn.)</td><td>318</td></tr>
    <tr><td>12</td><td>Georgia Gwinnett College (Ga.)</td><td>317</td></tr>
    <tr><td>13</td><td>Grand View University (Iowa)</td><td>281</td></tr>
    <tr><td>14</td><td>Bethel University (Tenn.)</td><td>270</td></tr>
    <tr><td>15</td><td>Madonna University (Mich.)</td><td>262</td></tr>
    <tr><td>16</td><td>William Penn University (Iowa)</td><td>244</td></tr>
    <tr><td>17</td><td>Indiana Tech (Ind.)</td><td>229</td></tr>
    <tr><td>18</td><td>West Virginia University Institute of Technology (W.Va.)</td><td>215</td></tr>
    <tr><td>19</td><td>Dalton State College (Ga.)</td><td>167</td></tr>
    <tr><td>20</td><td>Grace College (Ind.)</td><td>147</td></tr>
    <tr><td>21</td><td>Ottawa University (Kan.)</td><td>118</td></tr>
    <tr><td>22</td><td>Xavier University (La.)</td><td>108</td></tr>
    <tr><td>23</td><td>Eastern Oregon University (Ore.)</td><td>89</td></tr>
    <tr><td>24</td><td>Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.)</td><td>75</td></tr>
    <tr><td>25</td><td>University of Northwestern Ohio (Ohio)</td><td>74</td></tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Men's Cross Country

Road to Tallahassee: NAIA Unveils 2025 Men’s Cross Country Championship Field

Championship Information