COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Nov. 4, 2020) – For the first time in its NCAA Division II history, Oklahoma Christian has a nationally ranked men's cross country program.

The Eagles debuted at No. 15 in the Division II national rankings on Wednesday, four days after they finished as the runner-up in the Lone Star Conference Championship meet in San Angelo, Texas. OC had five runners finish in the top 25 in the race – Colten Brown, Colton Meyers, Jelte van Atten, Owen Pearce and Caleb Bozarth – with Brown and Meyers earning All-LSC honors.

The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, which usually puts together weekly regional and national polls, isn't doing so this season because a number of Division II leagues aren't competing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the LSC is one of eight leagues that does have teams competing and one coach from each of those leagues votes in this season's national poll, which is hosted on the Colorado-Colorado Springs website.

Colorado School of Mines topped this week's poll with eight first-place votes and 120 points, followed by another Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference squad, Western Colorado, with 112 points. Rounding out the top five were Alabama-Huntsville with 100 points, Augusta (Ga.) with 87 points and yet another RMAC squad, Colorado Christian, with 86 points.

A fourth RMAC team, Adams State (Colo.) was sixth with 80 points, followed by Lee (Tenn.) with 75, Lewis (Ill.) with 51 and LSC champion West Texas A&M and a fifth RMAC squad, Colorado-Colorado Springs, which were tied with 47 points.

Walsh (Ohio) was 11th with 43 points, followed by Nebraska-Kearney with 40, Southern Indiana with 27, Northwest Missouri State with 20 and OC with 7.

The Eagles will compete on Nov. 14 in the Division II XC National Invitational in Lubbock, Texas, an event that was created after the NCAA cancelled its fall sports championships.

OC's last national ranking in men's cross country came in fall 2011, when the Eagles finished the season at No. 1 in the NAIA coaches' poll after winning the national championship. OC began the NCAA membership process with the 2012-13 academic year. In Division II, OC competes in the nation's toughest cross country region, the South Central, which includes the RMAC along with the LSC.