2021 NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches' Preseason Poll
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Taylor (Ind.) opens the season at No. 1 in the Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll after winning the 2020 national title.
Poll Methodology
• The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences.
• Each conference is represented by one rater.
• 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 rating) 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 appear on.
• Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes.”
| RANK | LAST TIME | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | Taylor (Ind.) [18] | 559 |
| 2 | 2 | Huntington (Ind.) | 534 |
| 3 | 3 | Milligan (Tenn.) | 525 |
| 4 | 5 | Saint Mary (Kan.) [1] | 504 |
| 5 | 6 | Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) | 478 |
| 6 | 8 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) [1] | 471 |
| 7 | 7 | Indiana Wesleyan | 432 |
| 8 | 9 | St. Francis (Ill.) | 430 |
| 9 | 10 | Cornerstone (Mich.) | 412 |
| 10 | 4 | Oklahoma City | 405 |
| 11 | 11 | Oregon Tech | 394 |
| 12 | 12 | Shawnee State (Ohio) | 366 |
| 13 | 13 | Dordt (Iowa) | 341 |
| 14 | 14 | The Master's (Calif.) | 327 |
| 15 | NR | Southern Oregon | 312 |
| 16 | 15 | College of Idaho | 276 |
| 17 | 16 | Montreat (N.C.) | 269 |
| 18 | 19 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 262 |
| 19 | 17 | Northwest (Wash.) | 209 |
| 20 | 22 | Goshen (Ind.) | 201 |
| 21 | 20 | Doane (Neb.) | 182 |
| 22 | 24 | Carroll (Mont.) | 176 |
| 23 | 23 | Aquinas (Mich.) | 164 |
| 24 | NR | Columbia (Mo.) | 140 |
| 25 | NR | Grand View (Iowa) | 106 |
Receiving Votes: Grace (find.) 87, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 73, Eastern Oregon 44, Wayland Baptist (Texas) 44, Williams Carey (Miss.) 43, Northwestern (Iowa) 43, Campbellsville (Ky.) 37, Baker (Kan.) 28, Westmont (Calif.) 28, Spring Arbor (Mich.) 17, Loyola (La.) 13, Friends (Kan.) 11
