EOU Men’s Cross Country Ranked Number 12 in National Poll
By Garrett Christensen on Friday, August 26th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE — (Release from Eastern Oregon University) The NAIA released the 2022 Men’s Cross Country Preseason Coaches’ Top 25 Poll on Thursday morning and Eastern Oregon University was ranked No. 12. Milligan University topped the poll holding the No. 1 spot after finishing as the top team in the nation last year.
Eastern Oregon finished the year at No. 20 last year and will rely on a strong group of returners heading into the 2022 season.
“I am quite pleased with the preseason rank,” Coach Ben Welch said. “With six of the seven guys from last year’s twentieth place team back, as well as some key additions to that group and a lot of growth within that group, to move into the top 15 in the preseason rankings is very satisfying,” Coach Ben Welch said.
The Mountaineers are one of six Cascade Collegiate Conference teams ranked in the top 25 proving the conference to be one of the best in the country. EOU will start its season on Friday, Sept. 9 at the CCC preview in Talent, Ore. The men’s race will start at 9 a.m.
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.”
