JOLIET, Ill. – University of St. Francis stayed in the No. 1 spot for the ninth consecutive NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches' Top-25 Poll, released Wednesday. | Poll
Receiving 18 of 22 first-place votes and 619 total points, the defending national champion Saints vaulted into a tie for fifth place in all-time NAIA No. 1 men's cross country rankings.
USF led the 37-team field at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge this past Saturday in Grand Rapids, Mich. Paced by the senior tandem of Dylan Reyes (Sterling, Ill./ Newman Central Catholic) and Mike Blaszczyk (Novi, Mich./ Novi), who placed second and third with respective times of 24:51.25 and 24:51.53, the Saints clocked a combined time of 2:06:56 on the 8-kilometer course.
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Southern Oregon University garnered the other four first-place votes and earned 605 total points to capture the No. 2 ranking. Lewis-Clark State College gained the No. 3 slot with 569 points, followed by No.4 Olivet Nazarene University (547) and No. 5 Oklahoma City University (536).
The Saints will look to defend their Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference crown when they take on Olivet Nazarene and 10 other teams at the CCAC Championships at Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso, Ind. on Saturday, Nov. 9.
