Wayland Baptist Men Take Narrow Lead in NAIA Outdoor T&F National Team Rankings

LATEST USTFCCCA NEWS
View on the web
Wayland Baptist Men Take Narrow Lead in NAIA Outdoor T&F National Team Rankings
May 7, 2014


NEW ORLEANS – In what may be the closest collegiate track & field championship race in the country, the Wayland Baptist (Texas) men have narrowly seized control over the NAIA National Team Computer Rankings with the Championship Meet in Gulf Shores, Ala., just over two weeks away (May 22-24).

The Pioneers stood relatively pat from a week ago and let the two teams that had been ranked higher in formerly top-ranked Oklahoma Baptist and Concordia (Ore.) fall past them.



Meanwhile in the women’s rankings British Columbia expanded its advantage in the No. 1 position while the three other teams within striking distance attempted to keep pace.

Team rankings points do not equate to NAIA Championships team points scored at the national meet, but rather the number of student-athletes a team has near the top of the descending order list in their resepctive events and how highly they are ranked.

A full explanation of the points system used in the National Team Computer Rankings can be found here.

Qualification for the NAIA Championships will not be determined in any way by these rankings, which are not officially sanctioned or endorsed by the NAIA for the 2014 season. These rankings are supported by the NAIA from the standpoint of media and entertainment purposes only.

MEN’S TOP FIVE
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
Wayland Baptist
428.83 pts Concordia (Ore.)
409.65 pts Indiana Tech
403.53 pts Oklahoma Baptist
392.56 pts Concordia (Neb.)
287.51 pts
View Complete Men’s Rankings


For the Wayland Baptist men, Stephen Sutherland Improved to No. 4 at 200 meters in a tie with his teammates Durawn Howard and Lorenzo Dolphus – all of whom are also ranked in the top three at 400 meters nationally. All told, the Pioneers checked in with a team rankings score of 428.83 after a six-point improvement.

Concordia (Ore.) (409.65) remained steady at No. 2 despite falling more than 17 points, while defending national champion and recently crowned WHAC champion Indiana Tech (403.53) moved up a position to No. 3 despite a more than 10-point drop.

Falling the hardest was last week’s No. 1 Oklahoma Baptist (392.56), which sunk three spots to No. 4 after losing nearly 37 points from its team score. Within 40 points of Wayland Baptist, the Bison and each of the three teams ranked ahead of them are still very much in the hunt for the team title, in terms of proximity in the rankings

GPAC champion Concordia (Neb.) (287.51) rounded out the top five, holding firm from a week ago.

Up 11 spots from a week ago, the No. 22 CCAC champion Olivet Nazarene men moved up the farthest of any program in the top 25 this week, men’s or women’s.

WOMEN’S TOP FIVE
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
British Columbia
545.03 pts Indiana Tech
490.94 pts Oklahoma Baptist
462.68 pts Doane (Neb.)
455.42 pts Wayland Baptist
290.71 pts
View Complete Women’s Rankings


Behind the No. 3 marathon by Jennifer McCormack and the No. 5 half marathon by Alix Thompson, the British Columbia women not only remained No. 1 but added a rankings-best 44 points to their team rankings score to check in at 545.03.

After falling to No. 3 in week three, the defending national champion Indiana Tech women (490.94) – fresh of a WHAC title – moved up to No. 2 after a 23-point gain from last week to at least partially keep pace with UBC. Moving the opposite direction was No. 3 Oklahoma Baptist (462.68), dropping one position after a nearly 30-point decrease.

Those three teams, along with GPAC champion No. 4 Doane (Neb.) (455.42) after a nearly 40-point gain of its own, have separated themselves from the pack in the eyes of the computer. Rounding out the top five was Wayland Baptist (Texas), which held its position but saw its team score drop by nearly 10 points.

It wasn’t a week for big moves on the women’s side, as GSAC champion No. 20 Biola (Calif.) and No. 24 Dordt (Iowa) tied at four spots for the biggest move of the week.

USTFCCCA NAIA
MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2014 Week #5 — May 7
next ranking: May 14

Rank School Points Conference Head Coach (Yr) Last Week
1 Wayland Baptist (Texas) 428.83 Sooner Athletic Rohan Thompson (3rd) 3
2 Concordia (Ore.) 409.65 Cascade Isaac Frederick (2nd) 2
3 Indiana Tech 403.53 Wolverine-Hoosier Doug Edgar (5th) 4
4 Oklahoma Baptist 392.56 Sooner Athletic Ford Mastin (18th) 1
5 Concordia (Neb.) 287.51 Great Plains Kregg Einspahr (22nd) 5
6 Southern Oregon 245.54 Cascade Grier Gatlin (3rd) 6
7 Dickinson State (N.D.) 209.60 Frontier Michael Nekuda (1st) 7
8 British Columbia 200.72 Independent (NAIA) Marek Jedrzejek (13th) 8
9 Doane (Neb.) 197.40 Great Plains Ed Fye (12th) 10
10 Oklahoma City 187.40 Sooner Athletic Conor Holt (3rd) 13
11 Siena Heights (Mich.) 168.58 Wolverine-Hoosier Tim Bauer (30th) 14
12 St. Francis (Ill.) 166.58 Chicagoland Jeff Barker (2nd) 12
13 Missouri Baptist 155.68 American Midwest Patricia Hanna (4th) 15
14 Cal State San Marcos 153.99 Independent (NAIA) Steve Scott (15th) 11
15 Carroll (Mont.) 153.05 Frontier Harry Clark (1st) 17
16 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 149.01 Sun Conference Michael Rosolino (11th) 9
17 Hastings (Neb.) 145.89 Great Plains Ryan Mahoney (1st) 18
18 Wiley (Texas) 130.45 Red River Micah Tirop (1st) 16
19 Benedictine (Kan.) 126.90 Heart of America Darin Schmitz (3rd) 23
20 Central Methodist (Mo.) 120.39 Heart of America Mark Nelson (3rd) 19
21 Nebraska Wesleyan 99.30 Great Plains Ted Bulling (29th) 25
22 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 97.11 Chicagoland Michael McDowell (13th) 33
23 Concordia (Calif.) 93.58 Golden State Mark Sellers (1st) 20
24 Northwestern (Iowa) 91.91 Great Plains Scott Bahrke (2nd) 27
25 Eastern Oregon 91.24 Cascade Ben Welch (10th) 32
dropped out: No. 25 Southern Oregon
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25



Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank Conference Points Top 25 Teams
1 Sooner Athletic 1042.09 3
2 Great Plains 1017.87 5
3 Cascade 861.80 3
4 Wolverine-Hoosier 785.50 2
5 Frontier 457.57 2
6 Heart of America 430.01 2
7 Independent (NAIA) 382.16 2
8 Chicagoland 350.22 2
9 Red River 325.63 1
10 Crossroads 316.27



USTFCCCA NAIA
WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2014 Week #5 — May 7
next ranking: May 14

Rank School Points Conference Head Coach (Yr) Last Week
1 British Columbia 545.03 Independent (NAIA) Marek Jedrzejek (13th) 1
2 Indiana Tech 490.94 Wolverine-Hoosier Doug Edgar (5th) 3
3 Oklahoma Baptist 462.68 Sooner Athletic Ford Mastin (18th) 2
4 Doane (Neb.) 455.42 Great Plains Ed Fye (12th) 4
5 Wayland Baptist (Texas) 290.71 Sooner Athletic Rohan Thompson (3rd) 5
6 Concordia (Neb.) 255.11 Great Plains Kregg Einspahr (22nd) 7
7 College of Idaho 243.43 Cascade Pat McCurry (10th) 6
8 Hastings (Neb.) 210.03 Great Plains Ryan Mahoney (1st) 10
9 Baker (Kan.) 207.98 Heart of America Zach Kindler (7th) 9
10 Cornerstone (Mich.) 199.73 Wolverine-Hoosier Paul Koutz (2nd) 8
11 Carroll (Mont.) 179.37 Frontier Harry Clark (1st) 14
12 Cal State San Marcos 171.77 Independent (NAIA) Steve Scott (15th) 11
13 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 168.18 Chicagoland Michael McDowell (13th) 15
14 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) 164.30 Sun Conference Michael Rosolino (11th) 12
15 Westmont (Calif.) 153.48 Golden State Russell Smelley (35th) 13
16 Siena Heights (Mich.) 147.67 Wolverine-Hoosier Kirk Richards (2nd) 17
17 Concordia (Ore.) 144.34 Cascade Isaac Frederick (2nd) 16
18 Bethel (Ind.) 135.37 Crossroads Tony Natali (16th) 19
19 Indiana Wesleyan 130.12 Crossroads John Foss (27th) 18
20 Biola (Calif.) 125.05 Golden State Jonathan Zimmerman (8th) 24
21 Wiley (Texas) 114.02 Red River Micah Tirop (1st) 22
22 Missouri Baptist 112.47 American Midwest Patricia Hanna (4th) 23
23 The Master’s (Calif.) 109.20 Golden State Zach Schroeder (6th) 21
24 Dordt (Iowa) 106.98 Great Plains Craig Heynen (6th) 28
25 Xavier (La.) 106.22 Gulf Coast Joseph Moses (10th) 20
dropped out: No. 23 Morningside (Iowa)
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25



Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank Conference Points Top 25 Teams
1 Great Plains 1392.43 4
2 Wolverine-Hoosier 927.28 3
3 Sooner Athletic 771.98 2
4 Independent (NAIA) 723.94 2
5 Cascade 667.63 2
6 Golden State 549.07 3
7 Crossroads 369.83 2
8 Sun Conference 301.36 1
9 Chicagoland 296.51 1
10 Heart of America 285.23 1







U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association
1100 Poydras Street, Suite 1750
New Orleans, LA 70163

Contact: Kyle Terwillegar
Communications Assistant
kyle@ustfccca.org
(504) 599-8905