With each of its top eight runners back from a program that has back-to-back River States Conference Runner-Up finishes in its pocket, the Shawnee State women's cross country program is expected to not only compete for a conference championship, but compete at a high level against the best of the best throughout the NAIA realm.

The faith in Shawnee State's returning women's cross country runners showed in evident form Thursday, as the women's cross country program collected six votes in the 2025 NAIA Women's Cross Country Preseason Coaches Top 25 Poll to receive votes in the rankings.

Shawnee State, who is considered to be the 36th best team in the country based off of that ranking, has a real chance to advance to the NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championships as a team for the first time since the 2019 season -- as each of the Bears' top eight runners, including Olivia Cisco, Jessica Elick, Beth Middleton, Kirsten Evans, Juniper Allen, Natalie Brammer, Sydney Reed and Amanda Salmons -- all return to the roster.

Cisco, a runner-up finisher at last season's River States Conference Championship Meet, emerged as the top RSC runner in last November's NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship, running a 22:11 for a personal best en route to a 52nd place finish. Elick, meanwhile, finished 10th at the RSC Championship Meet to earn Second-Team All-RSC honors.

A large incoming recruiting class of eight individuals have also joined the women's cross country roster for 2025, including Whitney Adams, Hadlee Cisco, Riley Colestock, Maddison Dietrich, Emma Hurst, Payton McQuirt, Allison Taylor and Maggie Taylor.

Overall, Taylor (Ind.) led the poll by nabbing 507 points -- 19 ahead of second-place Milligan (Tenn.)'s 488. The Master's (Calif.), who are the defending national champions, sat third while Cumberlands (Ky.) edged Saint Mary (Kan.) -- 436 to 434 -- for fourth place, ultimately rounding out the top five slots in the poll.
 
For more information on the Shawnee State women's cross country program, visit https://ssubears.com/sports/womens-cross-country or check out Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/shawnee_state_xctf.