NAIA XC/TF 2024-25

Hey have a bunch of new studs coming in. Don't underrate them. As much as I don't want them to win it all they're an incredible team

There's obviously a lot of other teams in the mix and you just need to look at last year to see that. But on paper Milligan and the Cumberlands seem to be amongst the best NAIA teams in at least a decade

Milligan is number one until they are not and they added plenty to the roster as well. You can’t sleep on Layne and his coaching experience as he has proven they are the best year in year out. I wouldn’t say madeo can’t run cross when he finished 40th at nationals as a FR. Yes he had a better track season, but is that because he can’t run cross or it was six months later of training. Either way Milligan and Cumberlands are the two obvious teams to podium and will be for awhile as both universities invest in the programs properly.

It would be really interesting if British Columbia also ran in the cross country season.

You’re forgetting about a couple of their other additions. They have some really good mid distance guys coming in.

I think Madeo is gonna be fine in cross. If you compare Milligan and Cumberlands head to head I think Cumberlands is a better team and it’s pretty clear.

I don’t see the hype around milligan tbh I think there’s a handful of teams better than them in xc. They’re probably a better mid distance team this year

Keep in mind Madeo only ran a 14:48 5k just a few weeks after xc nats. By the end of indoor he ended up running 14:29 and took 3rd in the 5k at nationals. It’s definitely more that he improved during track than it was something of him being bad during xc

The only way we can find out who wins the naia meet will be decided on an early morning in missouri in early november, almost six weeks before jesus christ the boy is born from the dead on christmas day. Lots of blood, sweat, and tears has led all these great christian athletes to this moment and only christ can guide them to the finish. AMEN

So they don't need a human coach just Jesus cross-country training? I will have to look his running book up. 😂

Has anyone ever won the triple crown in the NAIA? Looks like Cumberland’s might have a shot (like it or not)….. If you study the women they might podium in all three seasons. Has a program ever had a podium team all three seasons for both genders?

I don't think anyone has ever won it, but no one has ever had basically unlimited scholarship which is what their school has as a set up

If they win XC they're winning the other two. They loaded up in the Sprints and obviously Will still have the race walk in addition to the distance points

They had 16 top 10 teams last year. They have a massive institutional advantage

How can they have unlimited scholarships? That doesn’t seem fair. Has it always been that way? If so why are they so good now it seems?

They drastically dropped the price of the school relatively recently and make most of the money off the online classes. the in person education is either free for everyone or massively discounted. The most I think anyone on the team including the kids that never run and are basically JV are paying is around 2-4k from what I heard.

It's fair because they offer it to everyone not just the athletes. They have about 20k students now

Universities can have all the scholarships they want. Sports just have to stay within the allowed amount. I'm sure Indiana Tech and other top teams have same amount of NAIA max..

Not necessarily. There are maxes but there are also academic exemptions. There are no limits on these so if a school wants to fund them they can. Given the name, they come with academic requirements but it's an easy way to bring in extra talent if the school is willing to put up the money for them. Some schools might not have any and some could throw 15 at any sport.

I should clarify... these are not university wide academic scholarships. These are sport specific athletic scholarships that come with academic requirements.

The NAIA rule is they have a max discount % I don't know if it changes if it's a school wide policy

I know I Didn't say there weren't exemptions for 3.25 and 3.5. Simple way to help lower the total amounts for anyone. Either way, schools can offer whatever they can afford to offer.

I looked and it looks like they lowered the tuition several years ago, yet the “not paying more then $4,000,” doesn’t go into affect until this school year. Either way seems like a good deal for the student and the program.