KANSAS CITY, MO. (Oct. 6, 2022) – Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) men's cross-country has received 18 votes in the 2022 NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 Poll – No. 2.

The Saints first received votes on Sept. 22, the first time since the 2016 season. Since the program began competing in 2009, the men have won seven consecutive Red River Athletic Conference championships from 2015-2021 and have qualified for nationals each of those years.

The Saints were picked to finish first in the conference in the preseason poll released Aug. 11, and they remain first in the most recent conference poll from Oct. 3. Texas A&M University – Texarkana is second followed by Xavier University of Louisiana, Jarvis Christian University and the University of the Southwest.

OLLU made quite an impression after placing second in the University of Incarnate Word Twilight Meet on Sept. 2. UIW won the 6k, and the Saints pushed ahead over NCAA schools the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, North Texas University, Trinity University, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas State University, Texas A&M University-Kingsville and Texas Lutheran University.

Jose Zarate finished fifth among 83 runners. His time of 18:39.2 broke a record set in 2013 by Jonathan Yanez, who ran his 6k in 20:11.70.

The Saints won the Concordia Classic on Sept. 23 at Concordia University – Texas in Pflugerville, Texas. The Saints defeated NCAA schools including the University of St. Thomas, Southwestern University, St. Edward's University, Hill College (NJCAA), Texas Lutheran University, Concordia, East Texas Baptist University, McMurry University, the University of Dallas, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, NAIA's Huston-Tillotson University and Sul Ross State University.

Zarate finished third among 121 runners. His time was 23:31.9 in 7.3K. Diego Moran also made a great impression with his 11th-place finish with a time of 24:1.2.

The Saints placed fourth at the UIW Invitational on Oct. 1 among mostly NCAA D1 schools. Zarate led the way in the 8k with a time of 25:30 for 12th place among 126 runners.

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."

Dropped from the Poll: Northwest (Wash.), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)

Receiving Votes: Northwest (Wash.) 93, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 90, Benedictine (Kan.) 87. Marian (Ind.) 68, Carroll (Mont.) 56, Cumberland (Tenn.) 25, Doane (Neb.) 18, Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 18, Southwestern (Kan.) 14, Montana Tech 5, IU East (Ind.) 3, Concordia (Neb.) 2