UW-La Crosse Men & UW-Oshkosh Women Projected as Favorites for Division III Outdoor T&F Titles

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UW-La Crosse Men & UW-Oshkosh Women Projected as Favorites for Division III Outdoor T&F Titles
May 19, 2014


NEW ORLEANS – The defending outdoor men’s champion UW-La Crosse men and the UW-Oshkosh women have been projected as the favorites in the national title team race in the final Division III National Team Computer Rankings released Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

With this final edition of the rankings based only on entries into the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships at Ohio Wesleyan on May 22-24, the UWO women put some distance between themselves and No. 2 UW-La Crosse, with two-time defending national outdoor champion Wartburg creeping ever closer at No. 3.

Meanwhile, the UWL men retained a significant margin atop their rankings over new No. 2 UW-Oshkosh.

Since the inception of the USTFCCCA rankings in 2010, three of the four women’s teams ranked No. 1 prior to the NCAA Outdoor Championships – each of the past three, in fact – went on to claim the title, while both of the past two top-ranked men’s teams have done the same.

The UW-Oshkosh women, seeking their first outdoor national team title since 2011, held firm in the rankings with a team score of 196.64, while in-state rival No. 2 UW-La Crosse was not as fortunate. The Eagles dropped more than 19 points from their team score a week ago to check in at 175.25 – just ahead of a hard-charging Wartburg (173.11) at No. 3.

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.

As tight a race as the rankings predict between these three teams, a look at the quantity and quality of each squad’s entries indicates that it may be even closer than projected.

WOMEN’S TOP FIVE
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
UW-Oshkosh
196.64 pts UW-La Crosse
175.25 pts Wartburg
173.11 pts UW-Whitewater
94.99 pts Williams
89.34 pts
View Complete Women’s Rankings


Top-ranked UWO does not hold an advantage in total entries: it has 14 to UWL’s 17 but is ahead of Wartburg’s 13. The Titans have fewer entries ranked among the top 10 seeds: they have nine top-10 performers while both Wartburg and UWL have 10.

But what Oshkosh does have is the largest number of entries ranked among the top three seeds with seven, including two No. 1 marks from multiple-time national champion Christy Cazzola and another from discus thrower Breanna Strupp.

Wartburg has six top-three performers while UW-La Crosse has five, with both sporting two top seeds each.

Rounding out the top five were UW-Whitewater (94.99) and Williams (89.34).

MEN’S TOP FIVE
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
UW-La Crosse
245.64 pts UW-Oshkosh
140.39 pts Mount Union
119.09 pts North Central (Ill.)
116.46 pts UW-Eau Claire
101.72 pts
View Complete Men’s Rankings


The UW-La Crosse men, on the other hand, are the favorites by nearly all of the aforementioned metrics. The Eagles may have dropped 25 points from their team score based only on entries into the championships, but they still checked in at 245.64 – more than 105 points ahead of No. 2 UW-Oshkosh (140.39).

UWL led all teams with 24 total entries into the meet, well ahead of No. 2 UW-Oshkosh with 15 and double that of No. 3 Mount Union (119.09) with 12.

The Eagles also enter with the advantage in top-10 entries with 18 – more than any other team’s total entries – ahead of UW-Oshkosh’s 10, and in top-three performers with four. Mount Union, No. 5 UW-Eau Claire (101.72) and No. 6 Haverford (85.26) were the other top-10 squads with three top-10 entries.

The only thing lacking for UW-La Crosse? The Eagles do not possess a top seed in any event, though two possess No. 2 seeds. Each of the other top-five programs have one top-seeded entry apiece.

While the UWL men are projected to defend their team title, the battle for positioning behind the Eagles is much tighter. Three teams are within 40 team rankings points behind No. 2 UW-Oshkosh at 140.39, including No. 3 Mount Union (119.09), which moved up two spots in the rankings this week.

Just behind the Raiders are stationary No. 4 North Central (Ill.) (116.46) and No. 5 UW-Eau Claire (101.72), which dropped three positions from last time.

USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION III
MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2014 Week #8 — May 19
next ranking: none, NCAA Championships (FINAL)

Rank School Points Conference Head Coach (Yr) Last Week
1 UW-La Crosse 245.64 WIAC Josh Buchholtz (6th) 1
2 UW-Oshkosh 140.39 WIAC Eamon McKenna (2nd) 3
3 Mount Union 119.09 OAC Kevin Lucas (4th) 5
4 North Central (Ill.) 116.46 CCIW Frank Gramarosso (4th) 4
5 UW-Eau Claire 101.72 WIAC Chip Schneider (12th) 2
6 Haverford 85.26 Centennial Tom Donnelly (39th) 11
7 Washington (Mo.) 79.23 UAA Jeff Stiles (13th) 6
8 Whitworth 76.07 Northwest Toby Schwarz (18th) 9
9 UW-Whitewater 75.44 WIAC Mike Johnson (5th) 17
10 Moravian 72.13 Landmark Jesse Baumann (3rd) 19
11 MIT 68.18 NEWMAC Halston Taylor (24th) 10
12 Augustana (Ill.) 68.01 CCIW Paul Olsen (45th) 7
13 UW-Stout 67.07 WIAC Kyle Steiner (1st) 15
14 Wartburg 66.95 IIAC Marcus Newsom (16th) 8
15 La Verne 65.20 SCIAC Pat Widolff (22nd) 13
16 Greenville 65.04 SLIAC Brian Patton (20th) 12
17 Salisbury 60.04 CAC Jim Jones (15th) 22
18 Baldwin Wallace 59.95 OAC Bill Taraschke (29th) 16
19 Widener 54.96 Middle Atlantic Vince Touey (27th) 40
20 Johns Hopkins 47.85 Centennial Bobby Van Allen (15th) 14
21 Dickinson 44.61 Centennial Don Nichter (24th) 35
22 SUNY Oneonta 44.52 SUNYAC Angelo Posillico (1st) 18
23 Southern Maine 42.19 Little East Steve Virgilio (5th) 32
24 Monmouth (Ill.) 41.89 Midwest Roger Haynes (31st) 36
25 Carthage 40.70 CCIW Brett Witt (9th) 20
Dropped out: No. 21 Washington and Lee, No. 23 Bowdoin, No. 24 Nebraska Wesleyan, No. 25 Buffalo State




Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank Conference Points Top 25 Teams
1 WIAC 672.40 5
2 CCIW 235.62 3
3 OAC 222.80 2
4 Centennial 184.22 3
5 UAA 172.38 1
6 NESCAC 161.05
7 SCIAC 155.91 1
8 SUNYAC 129.25 1
9 IIAC 123.92 1
10 SLIAC 116.50 1



USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION III
WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2014 Week #8 — May 19
next ranking: none, NCAA Championships (FINAL)

Rank School Points Conference Head Coach (Yr) Last Week
1 UW-Oshkosh 196.64 WIAC Ben Dorsey (2nd) 1
2 UW-La Crosse 175.25 WIAC Pat Healy (23rd) 2
3 Wartburg 173.11 IIAC Marcus Newsom (16th) 3
4 UW-Whitewater 94.99 WIAC Mike Johnson (3rd) 5
5 Williams 89.34 NESCAC Nate Hoey (1st) 7
6 Amherst 87.08 NESCAC Cassie Funke-Harris (2nd) 6
7 MIT 76.41 NEWMAC Halston Taylor (7th) 10
8 Wheaton (Mass.) 75.67 NEWMAC Dave Cusano (3rd) 4
9 St. Lawrence 74.49 Liberty League Kate Curran (6th) 11
10 Baldwin Wallace 72.27 OAC Bill Taraschke (29th) 16
11 Cal Lutheran 70.01 SCIAC Matt Lea (6th) 8
12 UW-Stout 69.69 WIAC Kyle Steiner (1st) 9
13 Washington (Mo.) 67.31 UAA Jeff Stiles (13th) 12
14 Johns Hopkins 66.01 Centennial Bobby Van Allen (15th) 22
15 North Central (Ill.) 63.56 CCIW Kari Kluckhohn (11th) 13
16 La Verne 58.72 SCIAC Pat Widolff (22nd) 14
17 St. Thomas (Minn.) 54.71 MIAC Joe Sweeney (34th) 17
18 Westminster (Pa.) 52.23 PAC Tim McNeil (7th) 19
19 UW-Eau Claire 51.76 WIAC Chip Schneider (8th) 15
20 Monmouth (Ill.) 48.20 Midwest Roger Haynes (14th) 20
21 Ohio Wesleyan 48.11 NCAC Kris Boey (12th) 24
22 Carleton 48.08 MIAC Donna Ricks (21st) 18
23 Calvin 44.44 MIAA Bret Otte (5th) 25
24 Whitworth 44.20 Northwest Toby Schwarz (18th) 28
25 Luther 43.21 IIAC Jeffrey Wettach (8th) 23
Dropped out: No. 21 Illinois Wesleyan




Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank Conference Points Top 25 Teams
1 WIAC 635.86 5
2 NESCAC 268.57 2
3 IIAC 261.80 2
4 NEWMAC 195.19 2
5 CCIW 178.36 1
6 SCIAC 172.19 2
7 UAA 152.27 1
8 MIAC 145.97 2
9 NCAC 134.35 1
10 OAC 134.08 1





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