Florida Men, Texas A&M Women Begin 2011 Outdoor Season as Number Ones

Texas A&M has won back-to-back men’s and women’s outdoor national team titles



March 23, 2011



NEW ORLEANS – The bees are buzzing, the brackets are busting, and for the nation’s collegiate track & field teams, it is time to move it outdoors. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced computer-generated preseason national team rankings for the NCAA Division I 2011 outdoor track & field season on Wednesday. Heading the charts to start the season is the men of Florida and women of Texas A&M. The Gators are fresh off their second-straight national indoor title, while the Aggies, like their male teammates, will look to take third-straight national outdoor crowns.



The NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships will begin May 26-28 with preliminary rounds in Eugene, Ore. (west site) and Bloomington, Ind. (east site). Those who qualify will compete for national crowns at the finals site, June 8-11 on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.



Men’s Rankings



For the second-straight year, the national men’s preseason rankings have the Gators at No. 1 and Texas A&M at No. 2.



Florida (410.01) comes into the outdoor season as national indoor champs for the second-straight time and carries that same impressive resume, with some added components, to the outdoor season. Among the bevy of potential scorers are national defending 100-meter champion Jeff Demps, jumpers Christian Taylor, Will Claye and Omar Craddock, sprinters Terrell Wilks and Tony McQuay, mid-distancer Dumisani Hlaselo, hurdler William Wynne, javelin thrower Adam Montague, and decathlete Gray Horn.



No. 2 Texas A&M (306.30) has won the national outdoor team title the last two years, doing so in 2010 by one point, 54-55, over the aforementioned Gators. Although top-scorer Curtis Mitchell will not return for his junior season, the Aggies will still have plenty of power in the sprints and jumps to take notice. Among the returners are short-sprinter Gerald Phiri, quartermilers Demetrius Pinder and Tabarie Henry, and the jumping trio of Julian Reid, Melvin Echard, and Tyron Stewart. In addition, A&M returns junior javelin thrower Sam Humphreys.



Texas Tech (266.31) was placed in the No. 3 spot to begin the season, coming off a 12th-place finish at last year’s outdoor national championships. The Red Raiders have top returners in Gil Roberts (400 meters), Omo Osaghae (110 hurdles), Bryce Brown (400 hurdles), Bryce Lamb (long and triple jumps), and Julian Wruck (discus). Florida State (218.53), at No. 4 has sprinters Maurice Mitchell, Brandon Byram, Charles Clark along with long jumper Ngoni Makusha among returners.



Among all conferences, the SEC has nine teams in the national top 25, including Florida, No. 5 LSU, No. 8 Mississippi State, No. 13 Mississippi, No. 14 Arkansas, No. 18 Auburn, No. 20 South Carolina, No. 22 Alabama, and No. 23 Georgia. The Big 12 stands second with the Pac-10 with six teams apiece in the beginning top 25. Add up all the team-ranking scores and the SEC and Big 12 have the best among the leagues with 1464.24 and 1387.32, respectively.



Women’s Rankings



Again, history has somewhat repeated itself as, for the second-straight year, the top three women’s preseason outdoor teams are No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Oregon, and No. 3 LSU. Texas A&M’s women, like the school’s men, are back-to-back national outdoor champions.



The Aggies lost 20½ national-championship points to graduation as Porscha Lucas will not be in a Texas A&M uniform this year. Lucas was the national champ at 200 meters, runner-up at 100 meters, and was the second-leg of the Aggies’ 4x100 NCAA-champ squad. But, Texas A&M returns quartermiler Jessica Beard, hurdlers Gabby Mayo and Natasha Ruddock, sprinters Jeneba Tarmoh and Dominque Duncan, among others.



No. 2 Oregon was the national indoor team champs for the second-straight time in winning the crown two weeks ago. Oregon returns Brianne Theisen who has won two-straight NCAA heptathlon titles, Jordan Hasay who scored an indoor mile-3k national championship double a few days ago, distance strength in Anne Kesselring and Alex Kosenski, pole vaulter Melissa Gergel, and jumper Jamesha Youngblood.



LSU at No. 3 brings back Takeia Pinckney who was fourth in the NCAA outdoor meet a year ago in the 100 meters as a freshman, plus will have more sprint-scoring possibilities with Kenyanna Wilson, Semoy Hackett, and Kimberlyn Duncan. In addition, LSU returns half-miler Brittany Hall, hurdler Cassandra Tate, high jumper Brittani Carter, pole vaulter Rachel Laurent, and jumper Melissa Ogbourne.



At No. 4, Oklahoma returns 24 national-championship points from last outdoor season that came from then freshman and sophomore Karen Shump and Brittany Borman in the throws.



Seven members of the Big 12 are in the women’s top 25 to lead all leagues, followed by the Pac-10 with six and SEC with four. In addition, the Big 12 leads the conference index with 1429.66 points, followed by the Pac-10 at 1180.78 and the SEC 992.39.



USTFCCCA

NCAA Division I

Men's Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings

2011 Preseason - March 23

next ranking: April 5, Week 1


Rank
School
Points
2010 FINAL

1
Florida
410.01
2

2
Texas A&M
306.30
1

3
Texas Tech
266.31
12

4
Florida State
218.53
8

5
LSU
193.41
6

6
Southern California
177.87
5

7
Stanford
170.32
8

8
Mississippi State
164.97
17

9
Nebraska
152.21
16

10
Minnesota
141.11

11
BYU
140.11
69

12
Oregon
129.10
3

13
Mississippi
122.56
45

14
Arkansas
122.04

15
Oklahoma
116.81
27

16
Virginia Tech
116.06
10

17
Texas
110.85
17

18
Auburn
102.00
37

19
Kansas State
101.64
37

20
South Carolina
100.21
11

21
Washington
94.08
15

22
Alabama
93.66
23

23
Georgia
91.41
40

24
UCLA
88.18
52

25
California
84.25
21



Men's Conference Index Top 10

Rank
Conference
Points
Top 25 Teams

1
SEC
1464.24
9

2
Big 12
1387.32
6

3
Pac-10
906.04
6

4
ACC
547.29
2

5
Big Ten
489.12
1

6
Mountain West
303.55
1

7
BIG EAST
241.38

8
Southland
191.04

9
Conference USA
128.13

10
Big South
122.42



USTFCCCA

NCAA Division I

Women's Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings

2011 Week #7 - March 7 (NCAA Week)

next ranking: none, NCAA final results


Rank
School
Points
2010 FINAL

1
Texas A&M
371.66
1

2
Oregon
310.44
2

3
LSU
309.27
6

4
Oklahoma
221.91
9

5
Southern California
214.43

6
Clemson
201.43
18

7
Texas
185.28
51

8
Florida State
168.54
20

9
Arkansas
149.86
15

10
Auburn
149.04
12

11
Arizona
141.63
13

12
Texas Tech
136.95
36

13
Stanford
131.37
14

14
Kansas
113.89
51

15
Tennessee
110.99
26

16
Arizona State
110.14
46

17
BYU
107.79
36

18
Miami (Fla.)
104.12
11

19
Penn State
100.67
4

20
SMU
100.43
51

21
Colorado
98.01
24

22
Washington State
93.11
41

23
Indiana
92.20
16

24
Baylor
87.84
20

25
Southern Illinois
87.67
9



Women's Conference Index Top 10

Rank
Conference
Points
Top 25 Teams

1
Big 12
1429.66
7

2
Pac-10
1180.78
6

3
SEC
992.39
4

4
ACC
787.75
3

5
Big Ten
433.29
2

6
Conference USA
306.28
1

7
Mountain West
306.03
1

8
BIG EAST
305.24

9
Missouri Valley
153.58
1

10
Big West
132.95












---

Tom Lewis

U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association

Communications Manager

1100 Poydras St., Suite 1750

New Orleans, LA 70163

(O) 504-599-8904 (F) 504-599-8909

Email: tom@ustfccca.org

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