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Four-Time Defending Women’s Champ Oregon Takes Back No. 1 Spot in DI National Team Rankings - USTFCCCAPublished by
Four-Time Defending Women’s Champ Oregon Takes Back No. 1 Spot in DI National Team RankingsBy Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA February 18, 2014 NEW ORLEANS – Four-time defending women’s indoor champion Oregon is back atop the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I National Team Computer Rankings released Tuesday as the biggest beneficiary of the removal of preseason data from the rankings calculations, while defending men’s champion Arkansas remained atop the men’s rankings. The Ducks’ reclamation of the top spot it held two weeks ago is the marquee move atop an edition of the rankings that shifted dramatically with the marks of the top returners from the 2013 (except for combined events marks, which will remain through next week) now out of the picture.
Eight women’s teams and five men’s teams that weren’t ranked among last week’s top 25 moved their way onto the national scene, including a Villanova men’s squad that jumped up 49 positions to No. 10 and a North Carolina women’s team that improved 26 positions to No. 12. With collegiate leaders Phyllis Francis (400 meters), Laura Roesler (800 meters) and Jasmine Todd (long jump) heading a group of 11 Ducks ranked in the top 10 of their respective events – including both relays – Oregon (210.20 team rankings score) saw its team rankings score improve by nearly 40 points – more than any other top-25 women’s team. This is the third time this season the top spot in the women’s rankings has changed hands. The Ducks are now back in the driver’s seat for their fifth title in a row, which would match the Division’s longest streak set by LSU from 1993 through 1997. The Florida women (146.88) logged a slight improvement to its team rankings score, but climbed two spots in the rankings to No. 2. Texas A&M (144.20) remained steady at No. 3, but lost ground on the top-ranked Ducks after its team score decreased by more than 20 points. No. 4 Arkansas (138.00) improved nearly 20 points on the team rankings score front to jump up two notches in the rankings. The biggest top-five tumble was that of former No. 1 Texas, which dropped four spots to No. 5. Nearly 50 team rankings points came off the board for the Longhorns with the removal of preseason data (124.45). No. 6 Kentucky (103.66) improved one position from last time around, while No. 7 Georgia (103.18) fell two slots. No. 8 Providence (99.38) and No. 9 Stanford (81.51) remained stationary, while Penn State (58.91) pounced into the top 10 after a nine-spot increase to No. 10. While the women’s top five underwent a significant shuffle in terms of positioning, the biggest changes to the men’s top five came via team rankings scores.
Defending men’s champion Arkansas (167.28) and Florida (128.99) checked in as they have all season as the top two teams on the men’s side, but both programs saw their team scores decrease by nearly 43 points to significantly tighten the men’s race. None of the other top-five teams, however, were in a position to fully capitalize on the Razorbacks’ and Gators’ tumbles. The Texas A&M Aggies (127.85) were the only top-five men’s team to register an improvement to its team rankings score, with a 10-point improvement enough to jump past Oregon into the No. 3 position but just barely short of vaulting over Florida. Unlike their female teammates who benefited the most from the removal of preseason data, the Oregon men were the team most hindered by it. The Ducks (107.39) dropped a spot to No. 4 after seeing about a third of its week three score, nearly 55 points, come off the board. Wisconsin (101.66) remained steady at No. 5. Rounding out the top 10 were No. 6 Penn State (81.70) and No. 7 Florida State (74.69), which swapped spots from a week ago; No. 16 Southern California (66.84), up 16 spots from last week; No. 9 Arizona (61.58); and No. 10 Villanova (60.98), up 49 spots from last week. Arizona was unable to benefit from Lawi Lalang’s collegiate-record indoor mile, as marks set at The Millrose Games will not count for qualification purposes. The meet did not meet the minimum requirements to be counted as a collegiate meet. The national team rankings are complied by mathematical formulae based on national descending order lists. The purpose and methodology of the rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national team race. Rankings points do not equate with NCAA Championships team points. A full description of the rankings can be found here. The USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings should not be referred to as a “poll” as no voting occurs during the process.
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