2025 NCAA DI Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 6

NEW ORLEANS – Destination: Columbia, Missouri.

Here is the Pre-Championships Edition of the NCAA DI Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll for the 2025 season. Find out which programs voting coaches feel will contend for podium spots come Saturday, November 22, at the 2025 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships.

There’s a clear gap between the favorites and the rest of the field, starting with unanimous No. 1 Oklahoma State. The Cowboys, aiming for their sixth national title and second in the past three years, once again held off Iowa State – this time at the Midwest Region Championships. Oklahoma State edged the Cyclones, 38-41, though the margin looks closer than the race truly was. Brian Musau, coming off his third straight Big 12 title, slipped from third to 18th between 4k and 5k before rallying late to secure the Cowboys’ victory.

Iowa State won’t go quietly on Saturday. The second-ranked Cyclones, chasing their third national crown and first since 1994, put four runners in the top ten at the Midwest Region Championships, but their fifth, sixth, and seventh finishers crossed in 22nd, 32nd, and 99th. They rose to the moment last year in Madison, placing all five scorers in the top 50 including four All-Americans, and they dominated a quality field by 60 points on the NCAA course earlier this fall at the Gans Creek Classic.

New Mexico is a clear – and distant – third. The Lobos have never finished higher than eighth at the NCAA Championships, but haven’t fielded a team like this before. They tore through the Mountain Region this past weekend with four runners in the top seven, highlighted by a 1-2 finish by Habtom Samuel and Evans Kiplagat. Samuel, undefeated through three races, is expected to contend for the individual title and, with a win, would give the Lobos a true low stick. Like any podium candidate, New Mexico would need a dependable race out of its fifth runner.

Speaking of podium contenders, No. 4 Syracuse and No. 5 Virginia sit ahead of No. 6 Oregon, No. 7 Colorado, No. 8 BYU, and the t-No. 9 duo of Alabama and Northern Arizona. The Orange moved past the Cavaliers after an emphatic win at the Northeast Region Championships, scoring just 32 points and placing all five scorers in the top ten. Virginia, meanwhile, finished third in the Southeast Region – 27 points behind runner-up Eastern Kentucky and 40 behind champion Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons led by individual champion Rocky Hansen. Syracuse last reached the NCAA podium in 2016, one year removed from winning its national title, while the Cavaliers have yet to crack the top four at the season’s climactic meet.

Get ready for the 2025 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships, which will take place this Saturday, November 22, at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Missouri.