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TSR's 2025 NAIA XC Top 25 Team Rankings (Men): First Edition
- Sam Peterson
- Sep 15, 2025
- 7 min read
Written by Sam Peterson, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin
NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On certain occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.
25. Southern Oregon Raiders
In the ultra-competitive Cascade Conference poll, Southern Oregon was picked 5th; the lowest that they’ll likely be able to place at their conference meet if they want a trip to this year's NAIA XC Championships. Either way, the Raiders looks poised to make a run at a top-20 national meet finish this fall if they can overcome their admittedly small and thin roster size. They do return high-upside men, but there isn't much certainty with this team.
24. Mobile Rams
The 2024 season marked the year of transition for Mobile. Leith Rawson was able to take his new team to the "Big Dance," but the Rams "only" mustered up at 30th place finish. With a still-young roster that now has more experience, this team could find themselves in the top-20 by the end of the season.
23. Oklahoma City Stars
Yes, we'll admit, this team basically lost their entire national meet lineup from 2024 -- the same one that placed 7th at the national meet. Thankfully for the Stars, they have an All-American steeplechaser in Ayenew Devany, a 3:49 metric miler in Belkhalfi Hamza, a 128th place national meet finisher in Riley Randall and an All-American miler in Hendrick Ramirez. If this team can find decent enough scoring support behind those men, then Oklahoma City should still be a nationally competitive team...we think.
22. Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes
This team could be a sleeper to sneak into the top-20 portion of our rankings (or of the national meet standings) this year. While they don’t have a clear All-American favorite (following the departure of Julian Avila and Austin Hess), they do have Damion Jackson and solid depth, something that they’ll need to rely on if they want to beat expectations.
21. Goshen Maple Leafs
One of several Crossroads Conference teams represented inside of our top-25, Goshen is a key name to watch, especially after placing 5th at the IWU Twilight meet. Low-stick Matthew Keitany is one of the top runners in the country this year, and they’ll need to rely on him as a stable ace to get themselves to November. Thankfully, last year's team was fairly young, meaning that the Maple Leafs should have great upside going into this fall.
20. Lewis-Clark State Warriors
Lewis-Clark State will have their hands full come the postseason when they toe the line against Corban and College of Idaho at their conference meet. That's especially true given the number of crucial stability scorers and impact names who they lost. Even so, the Warriors snagged 13th place at the 2024 national meet, making it difficult to imagine them dropping much lower than this in our rankings.
19. Corban Warriors
Despite not qualifying for the national meet last fall, the Corban men are seemingly capable of more in 2025. They boast an All-American returner in Jack Gladfelter and have a quietly-solid supporting cast featuring Braydon Lee, Zander Moha and Bennet Mason as well as a slew of promising rookies. This team is far from perfect, but after a strong year on the track, they should have the pieces to mix things up over the next few months.
18. Montreat Cavaliers
The Cavaliers are coming off of a 21st place national meet finish last year and seem likely to make it back to the national stage this November. They do, however, lose low-stick Ethan Stamey, so they’ll need a few key names to step up later in the season. Thankfully, we think Ryan Stade can be that guy who allows the Montreat men to pick up where they left off last year.
17. Embry-Riddle (AZ) Eagles
The 9th place team from last year's national meet had quite few losses, but their depth has proven to be robust. They swept their first meet this season, but far greater challenges lie ahead. They’ll have to build greater stability around All-American Ben Smith if they want to return to the national stage (and find success there) come November.
16. Dordt Defenders
The Defenders finished 25th at the 2024 national meet, but Dordt was likely better than that given that they claimed their conference title over a strong Doane team. Thankfully for them, they return eight of their top-10 runners from last season, although losing their top-two scorers certainly doesn't help. Trying to balance the pros and cons on this team roughly puts them at TSR #16 in our rankings.
15. Eastern Oregon Mountaineers
The Eastern Oregon men not only have to replace Justin Ash (9th place national meet finisher), but they also have to make up for the loss of multiple stabilizing scorers. Grady Greenwood, Thomas Ogden and Trevor Nichols should create a solid scoring nucleus to rally around, but the depth after those men is what leaves us hesitant to rank this team much higher than this.
14. Doane Tigers
The Tigers showed us last year that they can finish inside the top-20 at the national meet, and that experience is vital for their return. Five of their six runners, led by Porter Bickley and Emmanuel Yego, will be ready to make an even bigger jump. Their season opener loss to Concordia (NE) at the Augustana Twilight wasn't ideal, but that can easily be explained by a flukey "off" day from Yego.
13. Rocky Mountain Battlin’ Bears
The Battlin’ Bears are coming off of a top-25 national meet finish in 2024 (24th) and return key players such as John Spinti, Justin Glass, Corbyn Svec and Zach Zwiesler. Their 2025 roster includes all seven competitors from their 2024 national meet team and they look poised to make an even bigger jump this season by virtue of being another year older.
12. Indiana East Red Wolves
Indiana East will be limited by their lack of a clear front-runner, something that will put immense pressure on certain members of their lineup. In our eyes, their fourth and fifth scorers will be the ones who make or break the Red Wolves' hopes of being a top-10 team at this year's national meet. But even then, that could be a fixable problem, theoretically making them a viable option for our TSR #12 spot.
11. Aquinas Saints
The returning WHAC champions are coming off of an 18th place finish at the 2024 national meet. The Saints will return a national-caliber steeplechaser in Brian Langlois and, along with Juan David Hernandez and Carson Lafferty, this trio should offer enough firepower for the Saints to find themselves back in the top-15.
10. Saint Mary (KS) Spires
Saint Mary’s placed 6th at the national meet last year, but lose star low-stick Dominick Beine and a VERY large portion of crucial, high-impact veterans. Aleksandr Krikov is an All-American returner, but this team will need to rely heavily on their elite development and any newcomers to return to the top-10. Thankfully for them, history says that they almost certainly will.
9. Spring Arbor Cougars
Spring Arbor returns most of their top performers from last year. Yes, Dean Reynolds and Camden Khon are both middle distance powers, but this team is much more complete and balanced than some people realize. The loss of Ryan O'Rourke does sting, but we suspect Jacob Singleton and Chase Hobson to be far more impactful this fall.
8. Carroll (MT) Fighting Saints
Carroll (MT) returns numerous men from their 2024 squad and they should have sneaky-good firepower via Zack Gacnik and Oliver Morris. However, closing down the gap between them and the rest of the Fighting Saints' scoring unit will ultimately determine how high their ceiling can rise in 2025. Thankfully for them, Brycen Gardner could be the man who bridges the two halves of this projected lineup after the progress that he made on the track.
7. College of Idaho Yotes
The defending national champions lost their three-headed low-stick scoring monster from last fall, something that would typically crush most programs the following year. However, the Coyotes have finished in the top-10 of the team standings at the NAIA XC Championships in nine of the last 10 years. There are multiple scoring concerns surrounding this team, but history suggests that they'll remain a top squad in 2025.
6. Marian (IN) Knights
In 2025, the Marian (IN) are seemingly poised to make a statement on the grass. The Knights lost just one runner from last year's squad and they return All-American standouts such as Tristan Trevino and Charlie Leedke, as well as 41st place national meet finisher, Chuck Chustz. If they can close the gap to their backend scorers, something that held them back at the IWU Twilight meet, then they'll contend for a podium spot.
5. Cumberlands (KY) Patriots
Despite losing three All-Americans, men such as Ryan Ehrler, Noah Loser and Jon Eades will all be back. However, more importantly, Coach Bradley Sowder has seemingly replenished his roster with new talent (like he always does). Tack on a few men who made great improvements on the track, paired with the extensive history of success that this program has had, and you can see why we kept them ranked at TSR #5.
4. Taylor Trojans
There is a realistic chance that the Taylor men win the national title this fall, even if their early-season loss to Indiana Wesleyan says otherwise. The Trojans came away with an 8th place finish at last year's NAIA XC Championships and return a significant amount of firepower. If this team delivers on their full talent potential, then Trojans will be a viable challenge for our other top-ranked squads.
3. Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats
This well-balanced Indiana Wesleyan team is coming off of a 5th place at the 2024 NAIA XC Championships. They return key players such as Alec Foster, Josh Bainbridge and Braden Sweet, but lose Eli Fullerton, Braden Vernot and Ben Neideck. That said, this group convincingly took down a top-ranked Taylor team at their home meet two weekends ago, leaving us with no choice but to rank the Wildcats ahead of them.
2. The Master’s Mustangs
Last season, The Master's men entered the national meet as a relatively young team and finished 4th overall, led by Jack Anderson who took 4th place, individually. The Mustangs did lose a few key names, but the addition of high school star Brogan Collins, the return of a few supporting veterans and the promise shown by younger runners on the track suggests that this team can win gold in November.
1. Milligan Buffaloes
The Buffalo men are back and ready to make a statement after narrowly missing out on winning the national team title last season. The 2024 national meet runner-up squad returns most of their top-seven which includes two All-Americans in Winston Telford and Bryson Lewis. They also add talented distance runners in James Hyland and Jack O'Leary among others, making it likely that Milligan has a nationally competitive scoring group once more in 2025.
