Big Weekend in DI Shifts Teams Upward, But Top Three Remain Unchanged

SEC trio still on top of men’s national rankings, Oregon’s women now over 200 ranking points



January 31, 2012



NEW ORLEANS – After a fantastic weekend in collegiate track & field to close out January, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Team Rankings for the Division I indoor season had some shifts from the previous week. New teams leapt into the top five or ten, but on both men’s and women’s sides, the nation’s top three remain the same.



On the men’s side, No. 1 Arkansas gained more distance from No. 2 Florida and No. 3 LSU in the national rankings after an impressive weekend. Freshman Gunnar Nixon became the collegiate leader in scoring 6,022 points in the heptathlon. Having just recently turned 19-years-old, Nixon claimed a new World Junior Record, topping a standard set by Germany’s Michael Kohnle in 1989. For the Hogs, that’s two consecutive weekends in which a freshman has claimed an NCAA automatic qualifying mark. Pole vaulter Andrew Irwin bettered the bar at 18-½ (5.50m) last weekend.



Texas moved up to No. 4 from No. 5 with the help of freshman Ryan Crouser who opened the season in the shot put with a mark of 66-7 (20.29m) which currently ranks second among collegians this season.



Arizona surged into the top five for the first time this year after adding the Mile performance turned in by sophomore Lawi Lalang this weekend. Lalang won the Razorback Invitational race by over five seconds, clocking 3:55.09 – just seven hundredths of a second off the collegiate record.



Minnesota notched up ten spots to No. 8 with a pair of 800-meter performances from Harun Abda and David Pachuta. Both went sub-1:47 at the Bill Bergen Invitational at Iowa State.



For the nation’s women, No. 1 Oregon widened their lead thanks to 2011 Bowerman Semifinalist Brianne Theisen. The senior notched the third collegiate record of career in the pentathlon by scoring 4,555 points at this weekend’s Texas A&M Mondo Challenge. Theisen was able to top her own previous record with a clearance of 6-2 (1.88m) in the high jump portion of the event. The high jump mark ranks second among all collegians this year as well.



No. 2 LSU gained enough points to shake off No. 3 Arkansas for the time being as a result of Charlene Lipsey’s collegiate leading 2:03.79 in the 800 meters.



No. 12 Iowa State climbed into the top 25 with a 16-spot bump after recording a pair of automatic qualifying marks in the 3000 meters at home with Betsy Saina and Dani Stack.

Among conferences, the SEC remains the highest-scoring league on both the men’s and women’s side when combining all ranking scores among institutions.



In the men’s rankings, the SEC has now climbed over 700 ranking points, far superior to the Big Ten’s (451.57). The SEC now has seven teams in the national top 25 with the addition this week of Auburn. The Big Ten retains six in the men’s top 25 while the Big 12 has four.



The Big 12 has six women’s squads in the top 25 to lead the category, followed by the Pac-12 and the points-leading SEC with four.



The next round of computer rankings will be released on February 7. The 2012 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held in Nampa, Idaho, on March 9-10.



USTFCCCA

NCAA Division I

Men's Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)

2012 Week #2 -- January 31

next ranking: February 7


Rank
School
Points
Conference
Head Coach (Yr)
Last Week

1
Arkansas
202.19
SEC
Chris Bucknam (4th)
1

2
Florida
173.43
SEC
Mike Holloway (10th)
2

3
LSU
120.26
SEC
Dennis Shaver (8th)
3

4
Texas
101.46
Big 12
Bubba Thornton (17th)
5

5
Arizona
95.82
Pac-12
Fred Harvey (10th)
10

6
Florida State
90.63
ACC
Bob Braman (9th)
4

7
Stanford
87.32
Pac-12
Edrick Floreal (7th)
7

8
Minnesota
78.57
Big Ten
Steve Plasencia (4th)
18

9
Texas A&M
69.92
Big 12
Pat Henry (8th)
9

10
Indiana
64.41
Big Ten
Ron Helmer (5th)
6

11
Nebraska
62.67
Big Ten
Gary Pepin (29th)
8

12
Oklahoma
61.21
Big 12
Martin Smith (7th)
13

13
Virginia Tech
60.70
ACC
Dave Cianelli (11th)
12

14
BYU
60.58
West Coast
Mark Robison (12th)
16

15
Ohio State
59.56
Big Ten
Robert Gary (6th)
11

16
Kansas State
59.08
Big 12
Cliff Rovelto (20th)
14

17
Mississippi
54.72
SEC
Joe Walker (28th)
21

18
Mississippi State
52.69
SEC
Steve Dudley (2nd)
20

19
Iowa
51.04
Big Ten
Larry Wieczorek (16th)
17

20
Oregon
46.46
Pac-12
Vin Lananna (7th)
19

21
Wisconsin
42.89
Big Ten
Ed Nuttycombe (28th)
15

22
Georgia
37.80
SEC
Wayne Norton (13th)
23

23
Iona
32.54
Metro Atlantic
Ricardo Santos (4th)
22

24
Northern Arizona
31.44
Big Sky
Eric Heins (5th)
25

25
Auburn
31.23
SEC
Ralph Spry (15th)
26

Dropped out: No. 24 NC State


Men's Conference Index Top 10

Rank
Conference
Points
Top 25 Teams

1
SEC
704.44
7

2
Big Ten
451.57
6

3
Big 12
383.04
4

4
Pac-12
309.68
3

5
ACC
243.60
2

6
Big East
102.73

7
West Coast
60.58
1

8
Summit League
55.08

9
Missouri Valley
50.78

10
Mountain West
35.44



USTFCCCA

NCAA Division I

Women's Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)

2012 Week #2 -- January 31

next ranking: February 7


Rank
School
Points
Conference
Head Coach (Yr)
Last Week

1
Oregon
202.99
Pac-12
Vin Lananna (7th)
1

2
LSU
154.21
SEC
Dennis Shaver (8th)
2

3
Arkansas
135.86
SEC
Lance Harter (22nd)
3

4
Clemson
121.46
ACC
Lawrence Johnson (4th)
4

5
UCF
107.90
Conference USA
Caryl Smith Gilbert (5th)
6

6
Texas
107.72
Big 12
Bev Kearney (20th)
5

7
BYU
76.71
West Coast
Patrick Shane (2nd)
7

8
Texas Tech
76.60
Big 12
Wes Kittley (13th)
8

9
Florida State
58.41
ACC
Bob Braman (9th)
9

10
Arizona
58.14
Pac-12
Fred Harvey (10th)
12

11
Texas A&M
56.05
Big 12
Pat Henry (8th)
11

12
Iowa State
55.73
Big 12
Corey Ihmels (5th)
28

13
Southern Miss
54.00
Conference USA
Kevin Stephen (5th)
10

14
Baylor
50.04
Big 12
Todd Harbour (7th)
16

15
Ohio State
48.57
Big Ten
Karen Dennis (6th)
14

16
Southern Illinois
48.46
Missouri Valley
Connie Price-Smith (11th)
15

17
Arizona State
46.82
Pac-12
Greg Kraft (16th)
21

18
Tennessee
45.78
SEC
J.J. Clark (11th)
17

19
Georgia
45.23
SEC
Wayne Norton (13th)
13

20
Oklahoma
44.36
Big 12
Martin Smith (7th)
19

21
Stanford
43.35
Pac-12
Edrick Floreal (7th)
24

22
Stony Brook
41.40
America East
Andy Ronan (12th)
18

23
Michigan
40.61
Big Ten
James Henry (27th)
20

24
Connecticut
39.70
Big East
Bill Morgan (9th)
22

25
Villanova
36.43
Big East
Gina Procaccio (12th)
23

Dropped out: No. 25 Georgetown


Women's Conference Index Top 10

Rank
Conference
Points
Top 25 Teams

1
SEC
470.42
4

2
Big 12
449.98
6

3
Pac-12
424.39
4

4
ACC
266.29
2

5
Conference USA
228.62
2

6
Big Ten
204.84
2

7
Big East
154.90
2

8
Missouri Valley
123.89
1

9
West Coast
82.49
1

10
America East
64.01
1








---

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

Follow Us: twitter.com/USTFCCCA