Florida Men & Texas Women Projected as Team Title Favorites Heading Into NCAA Prelims

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Florida Men & Texas Women Projected as Team Title Favorites Heading Into NCAA Prelims
May 27, 2014


NEW ORLEANS – They may not have the most entries into the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships Preliminaries, but where the Florida men and Texas women fall short in quantity they more than make up in quality to remain at No. 1 in the week eight edition of the National Team Computer Rankings released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).



Neither the defending co-champion Gators or the Texas women cracked the top five on the list of total entries in the East or West Prelims sites. Behind the strength of nation-leading totals of entries ranked within the top 10 nationally, however, both squads find themselves the favorites as the journey toward national titles officially begins this weekend at the East Prelims site at North Florida and the West Prelims site at Arkansas.

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.

Texas’ women found themselves quite a ways down the total entries list, as the Longhorn women (381.57 team rankings score) qualified 19 entries into the meet – 16 fewer than No. 3 Oregon’s (343.09) 35 entries.

WOMEN’S TOP FIVE
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
Texas
381.57 pts Florida
351.81 pts Oregon343.09 pts Texas A&M
329.27 pts Kentucky
274.18 pts
View Complete Women’s Rankings


The Longhorns, however, kept their grip on the top spot in a particularly close women’s national team title race withthree top-ranked entries and seven entries ranked among the top three nationally, tied with No. 4 Texas A&M (329.27, 31 entries) on both counts for the nation lead. The Longhorns also checked in with 13 ranked in the top 10 to equal Oregon’s nation-leading count.

Illustrative of how tight the battle for the women’s team title will likely be, each of the top five teams qualified at least 10 entries ranked in the top 10 and at least five ranked in the top three.

Texas maintained an advantage of only approximately 30 team rankings points over No. 2 Florida (351.81, 24 entries), while each of the next three teams made double-digit gains in Oregon (343.09), Texas A&M (329.27, 31 entries) and No. 5 Kentucky (274.18, 25 entries).

The remainder of the women’s top 10 remained just as tightly bunched with No. 6 LSU (214.72, 29 entries), No. 7 Georgia (213.82, 17 entries), No. 8 Arkansas (189.04, 24 entries), No. 9 Southern California (169.24, 22 entries) and No. 10 Stanford (153.09, 15 entries).

MEN’S TOP FIVE
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
Florida
364.95 pts Texas A&M
299.03 pts Oregon
256.96 pts Arkansas
238.88 pts Texas Tech
177.40 pts
View Complete Men’s Rankings


Though the Florida men (364.95 team rankings score) with 20 entries into the East Prelims also checked in well behind No. 3 Oregon’s (256.96) 36 into the West, the Gators likewise own the advantage inentries currently ranked among the top 10 nationally.

Florida’s 14 top-10 entries are well clear of rival defending national co-champion No. 2 Texas A&M (299.03, 28 entries) with nine, and Oregon and No. 4 Arkansas (238.88, 29 entries) with eight each. Four performers ranked No. 1 in the nation for Florida is double that of both Texas A&M and No. 8 Oklahoma State (168.80, 14 entries), and its five performers ranked among the top three nationally is tied for the most with Texas A&M.

Florida improved its team rankings score marginally based on the release of the Prelims entries, while rival Texas A&M was the biggest beneficiary of the field announcement with a more than 20-point improvement from a week ago.

No. 3 Oregon and No. 4 Arkansas both saw their team scores drop, while Texas Tech (177.40, 27 entries) logged a six-point improvement to round out the top five.

The Red Raiders head a pack of 10 teams with team rankings scores separated by just 50 points to set up a lot of potential drama in jockeying for podium positioning in the top four. Particularly, Tech was able to narrowly remain ahead of No. 6 Georgia (176.75, 25 entries) and No. 7 Texas (175.07, 27 entries).

Oklahoma State, No. 9 LSU (163.80, 21 entries) and No. 10 BYU (155.80, 32 entries) completed the top 10.

USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION I
MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2014 Week #8 — May 27 (pre-NCAA prelims)
next ranking: June 3 (pre-NCAA finals)

Rank School Points Conference Head Coach (Yr) Last Week
1 Florida 364.95 SEC Mike Holloway (12th) 1
2 Texas A&M 299.03 SEC Pat Henry (10th) 2
3 Oregon 256.96 Pac-12 Robert Johnson (2nd) 3
4 Arkansas 238.88 SEC Chris Bucknam (6th) 4
5 Texas Tech 177.40 Big 12 Wes Kittley (15th) 5
6 Georgia 176.75 SEC Wayne Norton (15th) 6
7 Texas 175.07 Big 12 Mario Sategna (1st) 7
8 Oklahoma State 168.80 Big 12 Dave Smith (6th) 9
9 LSU 163.80 SEC Dennis Shaver (10th) 8
10 BYU 155.80 Independent (DI) Ed Eyestone (1st) 10
11 Mississippi 141.05 SEC Brian O’Neal (2nd) 13
12 Wisconsin 138.86 Big Ten Mick Byrne (1st) 14
13 Alabama 136.97 SEC Dan Waters (3rd) 11
14 Southern California 127.36 Pac-12 Caryl Smith Gilbert (1st) 15
15 Baylor 114.79 Big 12 Todd Harbour (9th) 12
16 Illinois 109.04 Big Ten Mike Turk (5th) 17
17 Penn State 106.16 Big Ten Beth Alford-Sullivan (8th) 16
18 Tennessee 104.54 SEC J.J. Clark (5th) 19
19 Kentucky 102.66 SEC Edrick Floreal (2nd) 18
20 Arizona 97.46 Pac-12 Fred Harvey (12th) 22
21 Stanford 96.74 Pac-12 Chris Miltenberg (2nd) 23
22 UCLA 96.60 Pac-12 Mike Maynard (5th) 20
23 Nebraska 90.24 Big Ten Gary Pepin (31st) 21
24 Auburn 84.24 SEC Ralph Spry (17th) 24
25 New Mexico 81.65 Mountain West Joe Franklin (7th) 25
dropped out: none
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25



Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank Conference Points Top 25 Teams
1 SEC 1888.80 10
2 Big 12 854.84 4
3 Pac-12 838.29 5
4 Big Ten 667.78 4
5 ACC 423.91
6 Conference USA 293.56
7 Sun Belt 203.28
8 Mountain West 197.47 1
9 Mid-American 189.43
10 Independent (DI) 155.80 1



USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION I
WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2014 Week #8 — May 27 (pre-NCAA prelims)
next ranking: June 3 (pre-NCAA finals)

Rank School Points Conference Head Coach (Yr) Last Week
1 Texas 381.57 Big 12 Mario Sategna (1st) 1
2 Florida 351.81 SEC Mike Holloway (7th) 2
3 Oregon 343.09 Pac-12 Robert Johnson (2nd) 3
4 Texas A&M 329.27 SEC Pat Henry (10th) 4
5 Kentucky 274.18 SEC Edrick Floreal (2nd) 5
6 LSU 214.72 SEC Dennis Shaver (10th) 6
7 Georgia 213.82 SEC Wayne Norton (15th) 7
8 Arkansas 189.04 SEC Lance Harter (24th) 8
9 Southern California 169.24 Pac-12 Caryl Smith Gilbert (1st) 9
10 Stanford 153.19 Pac-12 Chris Miltenberg (2nd) 11
11 Florida State 129.57 ACC Bob Braman (11th) 10
12 Baylor 120.09 Big 12 Todd Harbour (9th) 12
13 Kansas 118.80 Big 12 Stanley Redwine (14th) 13
14 Arizona 111.44 Pac-12 Fred Harvey (12th) 15
15 Texas Tech 111.43 Big 12 Wes Kittley (15th) 14
16 Penn State 110.28 Big Ten Beth Alford-Sullivan (15th) 16
17 Missouri 101.22 SEC Brett Halter (4th) 17
18 San Diego State 91.28 Mountain West Shelia Burrell (5th) 19
19 Boise State 87.78 Mountain West Corey Ihmels (1st) 21
20 Michigan 80.84 Big Ten James Henry (29th) 18
21 Arizona State 80.18 Pac-12 Greg Kraft (18th) 20
22 NC State 77.56 ACC Rollie Geiger (30th) 23
23 Virginia Tech 73.33 ACC Dave Cianelli (13th) 28
24 Kent State 73.06 Mid-American Bill Lawson (9th) 24
25 Oklahoma 72.41 Big 12 Jim VanHootegem (1st) 29
droppped out: No. 22 Kansas State, No. 25 Nebraska
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25




Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank Conference Points Top 25 Teams
1 SEC 1915.18 7
2 Pac-12 1061.98 5
3 Big 12 1019.60 5
4 ACC 595.23 3
5 Big Ten 471.45 2
6 Conference USA 268.25
7 Mountain West 240.13 2
8 Mid-American 238.58 1
9 Ivy 149.65
10 American 141.96





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