UW-Oshkosh Women Narrowly Reclaim Top Spot in DIII Outdoor T&F Rankings From UW-La Crosse

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UW-Oshkosh Women Narrowly Reclaim Top Spot in DIII Outdoor T&F Rankings From UW-La Crosse
May 14, 2014


NEW ORLEANS – In what seems to have become a weekly tradition, a different women’s team has taken control of the top spot in the Division III National Team Computer Rankings released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Each of the past six weeks have seen a different women’s team at No. 1, with UW-Oshkosh reprising that role for a second time in the past three editions by the narrowest of margins over UW-La Crosse.

As those two continued to trade shifts atop the rankings as they have for each of the past four weeks, two-time defending national outdoor champion No. 3 Wartburg continued to position itself for a potential title defense.

Meanwhile, the defending national champion No. 1 UW-La Crosse men further bolstered their position at No. 1 as the men’s top five remained unchanged.

The UWO women logged a modest four-point improvement to their team rankings score to check in at 195.41, but it was enough to edge past UWL for the No. 1 spot. The Eagles fell to No. 2 with a slight loss of nearly five points to end up at 194.31.

For all intents and purposes, the rankings predict these two squads, based on each squads’ best individual/relay performances from this season’s descending order list, to be virtual equals on the national championship stage.

WOMEN’S TOP FIVE
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
UW-Oshkosh
195.41 pts UW-La Crosse
194.31 pts Wartburg
160.43 pts Wheaton (Mass.)
106.45 pts UW-Whitewater
103.73 pts
View Complete Women’s Rankings


A clearer picture could emerge next week following the announcement of the accepted entries into the NCAA Championships. The full list of meet participants will be announced by 9 a.m. ET on Sunday, and Monday’s rankings will reflect only student-athletes competing at the NCAA Championships at Ohio Wesleyan in Delaware, Ohio, on May 22-24.

IIAC Champion No. 3 Wartburg (160.43) improved by more than 18 points following its league title, while Wheaton (Mass.) (106.45) and UW-Whitewater (103.73) swapped spots at No. 4 and 5, respectively, to round out the top five.

MEN’S TOP FIVE
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
UW-La Crosse
270.73 pts UW-Eau Claire
145.54 pts UW-Oshkosh
136.87 pts North Central (Ill.)
116.34 pts Mount Union
115.87 pts
View Complete Men’s Rankings


On the men’s side, UW-La Crosse came in as the heavy favorite with a 20-point improvement to 270.73 – more than 125 points ahead of No. 2 UW-Eau Claire (145.54).

Rounding out the top five in the same positions as last week were No. 3 UW-Oshkosh (136.87), No. 4 North Central (Ill.) (116.34), and No. 5 Mount Union (115.87).

Two of the biggest moves on both the men’s and women’s rankings occurred just outside the top five. The Washington (Mo.) men (93.26) jumped 13 positions to No. 6, while Amherst’s women (84.86) were up 11 spots to the exact same rank on the women’s side.

Moving up the farthest overall were the No. 16 Baldwin Wallace men, who improved 16 positions from last time.

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.

USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION III
MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2014 Week #7 — May 14
next ranking: MONDAY, May 19 (pre-NCAA)

Rank School Points Conference Head Coach (Yr) Last Week
1 UW-La Crosse 270.73 WIAC Josh Buchholtz (6th) 1
2 UW-Eau Claire 145.54 WIAC Chip Schneider (12th) 2
3 UW-Oshkosh 136.87 WIAC Eamon McKenna (2nd) 3
4 North Central (Ill.) 116.34 CCIW Frank Gramarosso (4th) 4
5 Mount Union 115.87 OAC Kevin Lucas (4th) 5
6 Washington (Mo.) 93.26 UAA Jeff Stiles (13th) 19
7 Augustana (Ill.) 88.59 CCIW Paul Olsen (45th) 6
8 Wartburg 77.91 IIAC Marcus Newsom (16th) 7
9 Whitworth 76.47 Northwest Toby Schwarz (18th) 18
10 MIT 73.62 NEWMAC Halston Taylor (24th) 15
11 Haverford 70.34 Centennial Tom Donnelly (39th) 9
12 Greenville 69.44 SLIAC Brian Patton (20th) 8
13 La Verne 66.01 SCIAC Pat Widolff (22nd) 10
14 Johns Hopkins 61.37 Centennial Bobby Van Allen (15th) 11
15 UW-Stout 59.76 WIAC Kyle Steiner (1st) 14
16 Baldwin Wallace 55.58 OAC Bill Taraschke (29th) 32
17 UW-Whitewater 53.67 WIAC Mike Johnson (5th) 13
18 SUNY Oneonta 51.17 SUNYAC Angelo Posillico (1st) 22
19 Moravian 50.83 Landmark Jesse Baumann (3rd) 20
20 Carthage 49.47 CCIW Brett Witt (9th) 12
21 Washington and Lee 45.92 ODAC Brandon Uhl (3rd) 16
22 Salisbury 43.52 CAC Jim Jones (15th) 23
23 Bowdoin 43.24 NESCAC Peter Slovenski (28th) 28
24 Nebraska Wesleyan 42.92 Great Plains Ted Bulling (29th) 24
25 Buffalo State 42.43 SUNYAC Eugene Lewis (14th) 37
Dropped out: No. 17 Redlands, No. 21 Wabash, No. 25 Tufts
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25



Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank Conference Points Top 25 Teams
1 WIAC 712.25 5
2 CCIW 267.35 3
3 OAC 225.57 2
4 NESCAC 182.70 1
5 Centennial 177.87 2
6 UAA 174.29 1
7 SUNYAC 160.15 2
8 SCIAC 159.33 1
9 IIAC 136.58 1
10 SLIAC 117.64 1



USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION III
WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2014 Week #7 — May 14
next ranking: MONDAY, May 19 (pre-NCAA)

Rank School Points Conference Head Coach (Yr) Last Week
1 UW-Oshkosh 195.41 WIAC Ben Dorsey (2nd) 2
2 UW-La Crosse 194.31 WIAC Pat Healy (23rd) 1
3 Wartburg 160.43 IIAC Marcus Newsom (16th) 3
4 Wheaton (Mass.) 106.45 NEWMAC Dave Cusano (3rd) 5
5 UW-Whitewater 103.73 WIAC Mike Johnson (3rd) 4
6 Amherst 84.86 NESCAC Cassie Funke-Harris (2nd) 17
7 Williams 82.38 NESCAC Nate Hoey (1st) 12
8 Cal Lutheran 78.51 SCIAC Matt Lea (6th) 9
9 UW-Stout 75.55 WIAC Kyle Steiner (1st) 7
10 MIT 75.48 NEWMAC Halston Taylor (7th) 14
11 St. Lawrence 72.10 Liberty League Kate Curran (6th) 19
12 Washington (Mo.) 70.01 UAA Jeff Stiles (13th) 13
13 North Central (Ill.) 69.91 CCIW Kari Kluckhohn (11th) 18
14 La Verne 61.71 SCIAC Pat Widolff (22nd) 10
15 UW-Eau Claire 61.67 WIAC Chip Schneider (8th) 6
16 Baldwin Wallace 59.96 OAC Bill Taraschke (29th) 11
17 St. Thomas (Minn.) 56.78 MIAC Joe Sweeney (34th) 16
18 Carleton 56.29 MIAC Donna Ricks (21st) 20
19 Westminster (Pa.) 49.84 PAC Tim McNeil (7th) 23
20 Monmouth (Ill.) 49.80 Midwest Roger Haynes (14th) 21
21 Illinois Wesleyan 48.49 CCIW Chris Schumacher (17th) 24
22 Johns Hopkins 47.63 Centennial Bobby Van Allen (15th) 8
23 Luther 45.17 IIAC Jeffrey Wettach (8th) 29
24 Ohio Wesleyan 44.65 NCAC Kris Boey (12th) 15
25 Calvin 44.10 MIAA Bret Otte (5th) 26
Dropped out: No. 22 Rhodes, No. 25 Rowan
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25



Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank Conference Points Top 25 Teams
1 WIAC 681.88 5
2 NESCAC 272.82 2
3 IIAC 262.68 2
4 NEWMAC 230.36 2
5 CCIW 195.76 2
6 SCIAC 193.38 2
7 MIAC 164.82 2
8 UAA 132.53 1
9 NCAC 130.86 1
10 OAC 120.66 1





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