First Regular Season DIII Computer Rankings Released, Led By North Central Men and La Crosse Women

By Dennis Young, USTFCCCA

January 27, 2015

NEW ORLEANS—A new No. 1 men’s team is the biggest development in the first regular-season edition of the NCAA Division III National Team Computer Rankings. North Central (Ill.) takes over the top spot in the men’s rankings—released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Tuesday—while the top women’s teams, led by No. 1 UW-La Crosse, stayed mostly static.

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The North Central men moved up four spots on the strength of two event areas in which they’ve racked up dozens of national championships: distance running and pole vaulting. They have the nation’s top mark in the mile, 3000, 5000, and vault.

Aron Sebhat leads the descending order list in both the mile and 3k, Travis Morrison leads a phalanx of Cardinal men atop the 5k list, and Luke Winder is the national leader in the pole vault. Overall, they have the four fastest 5k times in DIII and three of the top four 3k marks.

While the Cardinals have come out of the gate strong, with most of their points coming from 2015 marks, their rivals to the north have yet to throw down the gauntlet. The three University of Wisconsin schools who occupy ranks Nos. 2-4 (Eau Claire, La Crosse, Whitewater) have combined for a total of 18.73 points from the current season. Expect all three to show their cards significantly more over the next two weekends.

NCAA DIVISION III NATIONAL COACHES POLL TOP 5 – MEN
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
North Central (Ill.)	UW-Eau Claire	UW-La Crosse	UW-Whitewater	Mount Union
View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll

Past North Central, there was some minor movement in the top five. La Crosse went from No. 1 to No. 3, and Mount Union slipped two spots to No. 5. The top five is still head and shoulders above the rest of the field; 54.67 points separate Nos. 1 and 5, while nearly that many points (40.46) separate Nos. 5 and 6.

Two teams entered the top 25: No. 16 Bridgewater State of Massachusetts (not to be confused withBridgewater of Virginia) and No. 25 Ohio Wesleyan.

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NCAA DIVISION III NATIONAL COACHES POLL TOP 5 – WOMEN
1)	2)	3)	4)	4)
UW-La Crosse	UW-Oshkosh	MIT	UW-Whitewater	Illinois Wesleyan
View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

The top six in the women’s computer rankings were changed. Nos. 1-5 UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, MIT, UW-Whitewater,and Illinois Wesleyan all bolstered their standing—particularly MIT, who gained 20.67 points from their preseason ranking. Wartburgstayed at No. 6 despite slipping 3.29 points.

Stevens Institute climbed to No. 7; the Ducks were the only team in the top ten to move up. The New Jersey school moved up thanks to a blazing fast 3k from Amy Regan.

No. 11 UW-Platteville moved up four spots on the basis of excellent marks in both horizontal jumps from sophomore Amber Williams. But the only team to join the top 25 and the biggest climber in the NCAA is No. 17 Lehman. The Lightning moved up 65 spots from No. 82 after Adriana Wright posted nation-leading times in the 60 meters and the 60 meter hurdles. Wright’s two marks came the same night in the Gotham Cup at the Armory.

If you’re a coach or an athlete and you notice that your team is marked in red, that means that your program is currently not a member of the USTFCCCA. Starting next week, non-member schools will not be ranked.

The Division III computer rankings will be released every Tuesday (with the exception of Wednesday, February 18 and Monday, March 9) between now and the NCAA championships, which start on March 13.

USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION III
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2015 Week #1 — January 27
next ranking: February 3

Rank	School	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	North Central (Ill.)	185.46	CCIW	Frank Gramarosso (5th)	5
2	UW-Eau Claire	158.71	WIAC	Chip Schneider (13th)	2
3	UW-La Crosse	158.45	WIAC	Josh Buchholtz (7th)	1
4	UW-Whitewater	135.66	WIAC	Mike Johnson (6th)	4
5	Mount Union	130.79	OAC	Kevin Lucas (5th)	3
6	Central (Iowa)	90.33	IIAC	Joe Dunham (7th)	6
7	MIT	72.73	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (25th)	7
8	Southern Maine	71.70	Little East	Steve Virgilio (6th)	8
9	Tufts	64.55	NESCAC	Ethan Barron (10th)	10
10	Haverford	64.26	Centennial	Tom Donnelly (40th)	9
11	Buffalo State	64.03	SUNYAC	Eugene Lewis (15th)	11
12	SUNY Oneonta	58.09	SUNYAC	Angelo Posillico (2nd)	13
13	St. Olaf	55.18	MIAC	Phil Lundin (7th)	12
14	Bates	53.45	NESCAC	Al Fereshetian (20th)	15
15	UW-Stout	52.14	WIAC	Kyle Steiner (2nd)	14
16	Bridgewater State	50.71	MASCAC	T.J. Smith (8th)	30
17	UW-Oshkosh	46.32	WIAC	Eamon McKenna (3rd)	17
18	UW-Platteville	44.93	WIAC	Chris Rotzenberg (3rd)	22
19	Wartburg	39.12	IIAC	Marcus Newsom (17th)	18
20	Salisbury	39.07	CAC	Jim Jones (16th)	16
21	Greenville	38.13	SLIAC	Brian Patton (21st)	20
22	SUNY Cortland	37.20	SUNYAC	Steve Patrick (8th)	19
23	Worcester State	37.19	MASCAC	Alan Halper (13th)	21
24	Wabash	33.46	NCAC	Clyde Morgan (7th)	23
25	Ohio Wesleyan	33.36	NCAC	Kris Boey (13th)	26
dropped out: No. 24 Washington (Mo.), No. 25 Widener
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	WIAC	605.13	6
2	CCIW	237.23	1
3	NESCAC	224.99	2
4	OAC	181.58	1
5	SUNYAC	173.77	3
6	IIAC	155.38	2
7	Little East	111.00	1
8	NEWMAC	93.91	1
9	MIAC	93.64	1
10	NCAC	92.69	2

USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION III
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2015 Week #1 — January 27
next ranking: February 3

Rank	School	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	UW-La Crosse	217.86	WIAC	Pat Healy (24th)	1
2	UW-Oshkosh	160.53	WIAC	Ben Dorsey (3rd)	2
3	MIT	141.12	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (8th)	3
4	UW-Whitewater	116.62	WIAC	Mike Johnson (4th)	4
5	Illinois Wesleyan	101.69	CCIW	Chris Schumacher (18th)	5
6	Wartburg	79.88	IIAC	Marcus Newsom (17th)	6
7	Stevens	70.53	Empire 8	Justin Wood (3rd)	9
8	Johns Hopkins	69.07	Centennial	Bobby Van Allen (16th)	8
9	Carleton	64.97	MIAC	Donna Ricks (22nd)	7
10	Baldwin Wallace	64.56	OAC	Bill Taraschke (30th)	10
11	UW-Platteville	56.65	WIAC	Chris Rotzenberg (3rd)	15
12	Washington (Mo.)	55.13	UAA	Jeff Stiles (14th)	12
13	North Central (Ill.)	53.41	CCIW	Kari Kluckhohn (12th)	11
14	Westminster (Pa.)	52.78	PAC	Tim McNeil (8th)	14
15	UW-Eau Claire	52.75	WIAC	Chip Schneider (9th)	13
16	Luther	48.39	IIAC	Jeffrey Wettach (9th)	16
17	Lehman	48.13	CUNYAC	Pete Charles (3rd)	82
18	Rowan	44.31	NJAC	Derick “Ringo” Adamson (8th)	17
19	Ithaca	43.63	Empire 8	Jennifer Potter (12th)	19
20	Williams	39.39	NESCAC	Nate Hoey (2nd)	23
21	Nebraska Wesleyan	37.66	Great Plains	Ted Bulling (28th)	18
22	UW-Stout	37.28	WIAC	Kyle Steiner (2nd)	21
23	Chicago	35.64	UAA	Chris Hall (14th)	22
24	Middlebury	33.74	NESCAC	Martin Beatty (27th)	20
25	UMass Boston	33.30	Little East	Consandria Walker (5th)	24
dropped out: No. 25 UW-Stevens Point
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	WIAC	669.46	6
2	CCIW	186.23	2
3	NESCAC	182.64	2
4	NEWMAC	173.99	1
5	UAA	173.76	2
6	IIAC	169.31	2
7	MIAC	163.12	1
8	Empire 8	137.35	2
9	Centennial	105.62	1
10	Little East	92.22	1