KANSAS CITY, Mo. - After sitting at No. 16 for the past few weeks, Bryan finally starting making its way back up the rankings as the LIons are now 15th in the 2012 NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Wednesday.

Bryan collected 308 total voting points to put it 17 behind No. 14 Eastern Oregon. 

Southern Oregon continues to hold on to a slim lead on the No. 1 spot in the NAIA Coaches' Poll. The Raiders received 12-of-21 first-place votes and tallied 579 points, for its sixth-consecutive week at the top of the poll.

Southern Oregon was idle last week. They return to action on Oct. 13th when they participate in the Cascade Conference Preview, which is being held at Lents Park in Portland, Ore.

Nos. 2 - 5 remained the same as last week as Cal State San Marcos gained five first-place votes and garnered 574 points for the No. 2 spot. St. Francis (Ill.) collected the last four first-place votes and 558 points to remain at No. 3. No. 4 Oklahoma Baptist earned 539 points, while No. 5 British Columbia notched 508 points.

Jumping to No. 16 from No. 24 is Morningside (Iowa) after taking second place, behind NCAA Division II Sioux Falls (S.D.), at the Briar Cliff (Iowa) Cross Country Invitational. The Mustangs were led by Taylor Chapman's fifth place finish.

A trio of newcomers, No. 17 Wayland Baptist (Texas), No. 23 Cornerstone (Mich.) and No. 24 Saint Mary (Kan.) join the Top 25 this week. All three of these teams have been ranked this year. Last week, Wayland Baptist won the South Plains College (Texas) Cross Country Festival. Cody Risch led Cornerstone to a fifth place finish at the Michigan Intercollegiate Championship on Oct. 5, and Saint Mary won the Haskell (Kan.) Invitational on Oct. 6.

Baker (Kan.)(No. 22.), Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) (No. 23) and Northwest Christian (Ore.) (No. 25) all fell out of the Top 25 this week.

Thirteen conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups are represented throughout the Top 25, led by the Cascade Collegiate Conference with five teams. Representing the Cascade are Southern Oregon, No. 8 Concordia (Ore.), No. 12 College of Idaho, No. 14 Eastern Oregon, and No. 25 Oregon Tech.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences/independents/unaffiliated groups. The sixth regular-season Top 25 poll will be announced on Oct. 17.

To view the entire poll, click here.