Both SOU XC Teams Ranked In Final Poll
11/8/2009 5:05:04 PM
The Southern Oregon men's cross country team is ranked No. 1 in the final NAIA Top 25 poll, the NAIA announced this afternoon.
The SOU men and second-ranked Malone (Ohio) both received 11 first place votes, while the Raiders edged Malone in overall points 612-611. Malone, the two-time defending National Champions, were ranked No. 1 for 29 straight weeks, before SOU took over the top spot in the poll for the past three weeks.
The Raiders cruised to their second-straight Cascade Conference championship on Saturday and won the conference's automatic berth to the NAIA National Championships on Nov. 21 in Vancouver, Wash.
Equally impressive is the appearance of the SOU women in the Top 25 for the first time in recent history and one of the few times in the program's history. The Raiders are ranked 25th, after receiving votes in three different polls this past season.
The SOU women finished third in Saturday's conference championships finishing behind sixth-ranked and conference champ College of Idaho and just one point behind second place and 22nd-ranked Concordia.
For the first time in school history, SOU has five teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25 polls at the same time. Both the SOU men's cross country and wrestling teams are ranked first, the SOU volleyball team is ranked 12th, the SOU women's basketball team is ranked 18th and the SOU women's cross country team is ranked 25th.