The NCAA Cross Country Championship will take place on Nov. 22 in Columbia, Mo. Prior to the championship, Ole Miss must compete in the South Regional on No. 14 and the SEC Championships on Oct. 31. Here is how the Rebels can reach the championship.
The nation is divided into nine local regional events. This year, Ole Miss is in the south region in Huntsville, Ala.
Only the individual scores of the first five runners on a team count towards the team score, as is the norm in all NCAA Cross Country competitions. The first-place runner earns one point, the second-place runner earns two points and so on. Like golf, the team with the lowest score wins. If there is a tie, the scores of the sixth finishers on both teams are added, and, if necessary, the scores of the seventh finishers.
Photos by Reed Jones/Ole Miss Athletics
The top two teams in all the regionals automatically advance. In addition to these 18 teams, 14 more teams are added from an at-large selection. A committee votes on these teams, which are often squads that performed well throughout the season or narrowly missed the top two in their regionals.
The 32-team field is a one-team increase from last year’s championship race. This expansion in the size of the field is the first since 1998. The Chair of the NCAA Cross Country Oversight Committee Karina Handeland believes that this is a positive change because more student-athletes will have the chance to run at the highest stage of NCAA Cross Country.
“The committee is excited about the addition of the thirty-second team to the 2025 men’s and women’s cross country championships,” Handeland said. “It gives additional student-athletes the opportunity to compete at the pinnacle of collegiate cross country.”
In addition to the team competition, there will also be an individual crown. The top four individual finishers at the regional who are not affiliated with a team (“unattached”) secure an automatic bid to the championships. Then, 38 more individuals are also selected as at-large qualifiers. All runners in the race, even those affiliated with qualifying teams, are eligible to win the individual competition.
All of these runners will come together for the championship race in Columbia, Mo. The men’s course is 10,000 meters, and the women’s course is 6,000 meters.
The national champions are determined through a single race. There are no reruns, waterbreaks, substitutions or outside help allowed. All results are final.
Over the years, the Ole Miss Rebels have qualified for nationals numerous times, but neither the men nor the women have ever won a championship.
