Stan Becton | NCAA.com | November 28, 2022

Here are the DI cross country teams with most NCAA championships

2022 DI men's NCAA cross country championship | FULL RACE

33 schools have won at least one NCAA cross country championship, whether that be a men's or women's title. From those 33, just 22 schools have won multiple NCAA track and field championships in their history.

Villanova leads all schools with 13 total championships, followed by Arkansas with 12 and Oregon with 10. In 2022, Northern Arizona captured the men's championship while NC State won the women's championship.

Here is a complete breakdown of the schools with the most NCAA team championships across men's and women's cross country.

Total Championships

Here are the schools with the most combined (men's and women's) team championships.

School Number of Championships
Villanova 13
Arkansas 12
Oregon 10
Michigan State, Stanford 9
Colorado 8
UTEP, Wisconsin 7
BYU, Northern Arizona 6
Oklahoma State 4
Drake, Indiana, Penn State 3
Iowa State, NC State, New Mexico, Providence,
San Jose State, Syracuse, Virginia, Western Michigan
2
BYU, Georgetown, Houston, Kansas, Kentucky,
Notre Dame, Oregon State, Rhode Island, Tennessee,
Texas, Washington
1

Men's team championships

Here are the schools with the most men's team championships.

School Number of Championships
Arkansas 11
Michigan State 8
UTEP 7
Oregon, Northern Arizona 6
Colorado, Wisconsin 5
Oklahoma State, Stanford, Villanova 4
Drake, Indiana, Penn State 3
Iowa State, San Jose State, Syracuse, Western Michigan 2
BYU, Houston, Kansas, Notre Dame, Oregon State,
Rhode Island, Tennessee
1

Women's team championships

Here are the schools with the most women's team championships.

School Number of Championships
Villanova  9
Stanford, BYU 5
Oregon 4
Colorado 3
NC State, New Mexico, Providence, Virginia, Wisconsin 2
Arkansas, Georgetown, Kentucky, Michigan State,
Texas, Washington
1

NCAA championship streaks

Back-to-back

There have been 27 back-to-back (only counting streaks once) national champions in the history of NCAA cross country. Here's a breakdown of repeat champions by season.

Sport Back-to-back occurrences
Men's  20 times
Women's 7 times

Streaks

A school has won three or more championships in a row nine times in cross country history. Villanova has the longest streak winning six women's cross country championships in a row from 1989-1994. 

See every championship streak of three or more years below.

Length of Streak School Years of Streak Type of Title
6 years Villanova 1989-94 Women's
4 years Arkansas 1990-93 Men's
4 years UTEP 1978-81 Men's
3 years Northern Arizona 2020-22 Men's
3 years Northern Arizona 2016-18 Men's
3 years Stanford 2005-07 Women's
3 years Arkansas 1998-2000 Men's
3 years Villanova 1966-68 Men's
3 years Drake 1944-46 Men's

Sweeps

A school has swept the men's and women's cross country titles four times in NCAA history. See the instances below:

  • 2004 Colorado
  • 2003 Stanford
  • 1996 Stanford
  • 1985 Wisconsin