KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association announced the results of its preseason coaches polls for the 2026 men’s and women’s cross country seasons. Pittsburg State was picked as the MIAA favorite in both preseason polls, with Washburn predicted as the runner-up in the men’s season and Rogers State as the runner-up in the women’s season.
 
MIAA head coaches selected the Gorillas to win both the men’s and women’s cross country titles in the 2026 season. The Pitt State men collected five first-place votes and 114 points while the Pitt State women received seven first-place votes and 138 points. The Gorilla women are the four-time defending conference champions, winning seven of the last eight MIAA titles. The Gorilla men have finished as the league’s runner-up in the last two MIAA cross country championships, last winning the men’s title in 2023.
 
Washburn men earned three first-place votes and 108 points to finish second in the men’s preseason coaches poll. Nebraska Kearney and Missouri Southern tied for third in the men’s poll with 90 points apiece, and Northwest Missouri, the two-time defending MIAA champion on the men’s side, capped the coaches’ top five teams with 84 points and three first-place selections. Fort Hays State men were picked sixth with 73 points, followed by Rogers State in seventh (60 points), Missouri Western in eighth (54 points), Central Missouri in ninth (45 points), Emporia State in 10th (40 points), Newman in 11th (19 points), and Arkansas-Fort Smith concluded the men’s preseason rankings in 12th (15 points).
 
Rogers State, the 2025 season’s MIAA runner-up, collected three first-place votes and 128 points to earn the second-place finish in the women’s 2026 preseason poll. Nebraska Kearney was picked third with one first-place vote and 116 points, Missouri Southern finished fourth with 107 points and one first-place vote, and Northwest Missouri was selected fifth with 103 points. Fort Hay State finished sixth in the women’s poll with 91 points, followed by Washburn in seventh (86 points, 1 first-place vote), Emporia State in eighth (56 points), Arkansas-Fort Smith in ninth (52 points), Central Missouri in 10th (49 points) and Missouri Western in 11th (44 points). Central Oklahoma and Newman tied for the final spot with 22 points apiece.
 
Northwest Missouri men are also the defending NCAA Division II Central Region Champions, while the Ichabod men were the last season's Central Region’s runner-up for Washburn's best finish in program history. Pitt State was the 2025 regional runner-up on the women's side. 

Six MIAA teams and eight individual student-athletes qualified for last season's NCAA Division II men's and women's cross country national championships. The Bearcats led the MIAA in the men’s 10K championship race with an 11th-place finish and the Gorillas earned a league-best 13th-place finish in the women’s 6K championship race.
 
Four MIAA men and three MIAA women placed within the top 40 at the 2025 NCAA Division II national championships to earn All-America status. Only two of the seven 2025 All-Americans return in the 2026 season, and they're both Pitt State women —Redshirt junior Hannah Gibson and senior Paige Mullen

The 2026 NCAA Division II cross country season officially begins Thursday, September 3. The 2026 MIAA Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships are set for November 7 in St. Joseph, Mo. The 2026 NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships will be just across the state border in Lawrence, Kansas, at Kansas University’s Rim Rock Farm on December 4, as part of the 2026 NCAA Division II Fall Festival.
 
To view the week-by-week schedule for all 12 MIAA men’s cross country programs, click here. To view week-by-week schedules for all 13 MIAA women’s cross country programs, click here.