KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The NAIA made it official on Tuesday with the announcement of the qualifiers for the 2025 NAIA Men's and Women's Cross Country National Championships.

The Benedictine Women's Cross Country team officially punched its ticket on Saturday by winning the Heart Championship. They were officially announced as one of 36 teams that will compete in the 46th annual NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship on Nov. 21 at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla.

While the Raven Women knew they had qualified, the Raven Men were awaiting word on if they would qualify any individual runners after placing third on Saturday at the Heart Championships. While they are not considered one of the official 36 team qualifiers, the Raven Men will be competing as a team after qualifying five individuals for the 70th annual Men's Cross Country National Championship.

Will Niederee, Brendan Alfonso, John Joyce, Joseph Accurso, and Micah Munoz were announced as five of the six individual qualifiers from the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships on Tuesday. According to the NAIA, as a result of the number of qualifiers, the Raven Men will be scored as a team at the National Championship, but the team is not listed in the official list of qualifying teams.

The full field of teams and individual qualifiers for the Women's National Championship can be found at https://www.naia.org/sports/wxc/2025-26/Releases/Qualifiers. The full field of teams and individual qualifiers for the Men's National Championship can be found at https://www.naia.org/sports/mxc/2025-26/Releases/Qualifiers.