California State-San Marcos Unanimous No. 1 in Final Edition of NAIA Women's Cross Country Coaches' Poll

Women's Cross Country
California State-San Marcos Unanimous No. 1 in Final Edition of NAIA Women's Cross Country Coaches' Poll
Three of the top-five teams took home top honors in their conference/independent/unaffiliated group meet

Nov. 7, 2010

Contact: Amanda Dahl, NAIA Manager of Sports Information and Media Services, adahl@naia.org


KANSAS CITY, Mo. - California State-San Marcos remained the unanimous No. 1 team in the final edition of the 2010 NAIA Women’s Cross Country Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Sunday. The Cougars, who are spending their third-straight week in the top spot, were awarded all 24 first-place votes for 684 points. The top-five teams remained in the same position as the previous poll with No. 2 Biola (Calif.), No. 3 Azusa Pacific (Calif.), No. 4 Simon Fraser (B.C.) and No. 5 Malone (Ohio).

The final rating comes following the competition of conference/independent/unaffiliated group meets. Team and individual qualifiers for the 2010 NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Championships will be announced Monday by 5 p.m. CST. The 31st annual event will take place at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash., on Nov. 20. For more information on the NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Championships, please click here.

Fourteen conferences are represented among the Top 25, seven of which boast multiple teams. The Cascade Collegiate Conference leads all leagues with four ranked programs. Representing the CCC is No. 7 Concordia (Ore.), No. 10 Southern Oregon, No. 13 College of Idaho and No. 23 Eastern Oregon.

The Association of Independent Institutions and Golden State Athletic Conference each boast a trio of ranked teams, while four additional leagues landed a pair of squads among the Top 25.

Seventeen teams repositioned themselves throughout the poll, nine improving rank and eight slipping back, based on their performance at conference meets. Outside of the top-five holding intact, No. 11 Indiana Wesleyan and No. 19 Aquinas (Mich.) maintained their rank.

The CCC race caused the most change, with team champion Concordia rocketing 15 spots to No. 7. The Cavilers posted 44 points and were followed by Southern Oregon (52 points), College of Idaho (69 points) and Eastern Oregon (95 points). As a result, Southern Oregon dropped to 10th, College of Idaho dropped seven spots to 13th and Eastern Oregon fell six spots to 23rd.

Cedarville’s (Ohio) second-place showing at the American Mideast Conference Championships, 20 points behind team champion Malone, pushed the Yellow Jackets up six to No. 12. Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) also made a big move in the poll, climbing four spots to No. 20 after finishing second to Carroll (Mont.) at the Frontier Conference Championships.

Champions of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, Morningside (Iowa) returns to the Top 25 at No. 18. The Mustangs last appeared in the poll at No. 17 on Oct. 20. Morningside replaces fellow GPAC member Concordia (Neb.), who was previously ranked 13th, but finished third at the GPAC meet with 68 points, 14 points behind Morningside.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences, independents and unaffiliated groups.

RANK LAST WEEK SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES) TOTAL POINTS
1 1 California State University-San Marcos (24) 684
2 2 Biola University (Calif.) 662
3 3 Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) 633
4 4 Simon Fraser University (B.C.) 616
5 5 Malone University (Ohio) 605
6 7 Point Loma Nazarene University (Calif.) 539
7 22 Concordia University (Ore.) 527
7 9 Black Hills State University (S.D.) 527
9 10 University of British Columbia 502
10 8 Southern Oregon University 480
11 11 Indiana Wesleyan University 467
12 18 Cedarville University (Ohio) 401
13 6 College of Idaho 397
14 15 Carroll College (Mont.) 385
15 12 Kansas Wesleyan University 364
16 14 Milligan College (Tenn.) 362
17 16 Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) 351
18 RV Morningside College (Iowa) 320
19 19 Aquinas College (Mich.) 280
20 24 Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho) 277
21 23 Northwestern College (Iowa) 245
22 25 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Fla.) 212
23 17 Eastern Oregon University 207
24 21 Friends University (Kan.) 198
25 20 Lee University (Tenn.) 193

Others receiving votes: Concordia University (Neb.) 187; Shorter University (Ga.) 95; Westmont College (Calif.) 57; Shawnee State University (Ohio) 55; Baker University (Kan.) 23; Park University (Mo.) 20; Viterbo University (Wis.) 9; Dordt College (Iowa) 6; Northwest Christian University (Ore.) 6; Jamestown College (N.D.) 6; Wayland Baptist University (Texas) 5; Rocky Mountain College (Mont.) 5; Spring Arbor University (Mich.) 3; William Jewell College (Mo.) 3; Saint Xavier University (Ill.) 3; SCAD Savannah (Ga.) 3; University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) 1; Minot State University (N.D.) 1.