By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA
February 9, 2015
NEW ORLEANS – Georgia’s Kendell Williams is used to being No. 1. Just a sophomore, she’s already the defending NCAA pentathlon and heptathlon champion, the collegiate record holder in the pentathlon, an IAAF World Junior Champion, and the 2015 collegiate leader in both the pentathlon and the long jump.
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As of Monday afternoon, she’s now also the leader of the No. 1 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field team in the country, as herGeorgia Bulldogs earned their first No. 1 rank in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Team Computer Rankings.
In what was otherwise a quiet week atop the national rankings, Georgia deposed formerly top-ranked Florida down to No. 2 behind Williams’ collegiate-leading long jump of 21-5½ (6.54m) andKeturah Orji‘s No. 6 long jump of 21-2 (6.45m) at Virginia Tech.
Rounding out the women’s top five were No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4Texas A&M and defending national champion No. 5 Oregon.
The entirety of the men’s top five remained static: defending national champion No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 5 Penn State.
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Both genders saw the ascent of new No. 6 teams in the LSU men and the Texas women, who are virtually tied with former No. 6 Kentucky.
Things will shake up this weekend, however. This weekend is the indoor track & field equivalent of cross country’s Pre-Nationals/Wisconsin weekend with big meets at Arkansas, Washington, Iowa State, the Millrose Games and elsewhere. Beyond that, this week is the final edition of the rankings that will take into account marks from the 2014 indoor track & field season.
For the Georgia women, the aforementioned Williams is a significant points contributor to the Bulldogs’ 174.75-point team total, which is just three points superior to Florida’s 171.80 (the rankings system is detailed in full here, and does not mirror the points system used at the NCAA Championships).
Williams accounts for 70 of Georgia’s 174-point total between No. 1 ranks in the pentathlon and the long jump, a No. 2 standing in the high jump, and a No. 14 rank in the 60-meter hurdles. It is important to note that it is highly unlikely Williams will contest all four events at the NCAA Championships.
(For reference, the high jump and long jump are on the first day of the NCAA Championships, and the pentathlon and 60-meter hurdles are both on the second day.)
Williams joined the USTFCCCA’s QA2 Max podcast earlier this season and was asked about the possibility of competing in multiple events:
| "I don’t know. That’s something I have to talk to [coach] Petros [Kyprianou] about. I don’t think he’s a fan of me doing an event before my main event [the pentathlon]. Since the schedule does work out where I would have a day break, I’d maybe go back to talk to the trainers and get what I need to get to compete the next day, so we’ll see." |
With a national team title now very much a real possibility for the Bulldogs, and with multiple single events in which Williams could take the title or score big points, that outlook might just change as the season progresses. Could it even go as far as Williams bypassing the combined events as she did at the IAAF World Junior Championships this past summer to focus on winning the 100-meter hurdles? Stay tuned.
Beyond the Georgia women, the biggest gainers in either the men’s or women’s top 25 were the Tennesseemen. Behind No. 5 60-meter sprinter Christian Coleman, the Volunteers jumped up 12 spots to No. 13 in the country.
The next-biggest moves were six-spot jumps by the No. 12 Texas Tech women behind Cierra White and the No. 23 Michigan State men.
USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION I | |||||
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25) | |||||
2015 Week #3 — February 9 | |||||
| next ranking: February 16 | |||||
| Rank | Institution | Points | Conference | Head Coach (Yr) | Last Week |
| 1 | Oregon | 185.48 | MPSF | Robert Johnson (3rd) | 1 |
| 2 | Florida | 178.47 | SEC | Mike Holloway (13th) | 2 |
| 3 | Arkansas | 128.99 | SEC | Chris Bucknam (7th) | 3 |
| 4 | Texas A&M | 102.03 | SEC | Pat Henry (11th) | 4 |
| 5 | Penn State | 79.98 | Big Ten | John Gondak (1st) | 5 |
| 6 | LSU | 76.83 | SEC | Dennis Shaver (11th) | 8 |
| 7 | Nebraska | 72.46 | Big Ten | Gary Pepin (32nd) | 7 |
| 8 | Georgia | 71.53 | SEC | Wayne Norton (16th) | 6 |
| 9 | Texas | 63.43 | Big 12 | Mario Sategna (2nd) | 11 |
| 10 | Stanford | 60.67 | MPSF | Chris Miltenberg (3rd) | 9 |
| 11 | Villanova | 57.30 | Big East | Marcus O’Sullivan (15th) | 13 |
| 12 | Virginia Tech | 56.73 | ACC | Dave Cianelli (14th) | 10 |
| 13 | Tennessee | 54.44 | SEC | Beth Alford-Sullivan (1st) | 25 |
| 14 | Texas Tech | 54.18 | Big 12 | Wes Kittley (16th) | 14 |
| 15 | Alabama | 49.60 | SEC | Dan Waters (4th) | 12 |
| 16 | Baylor | 48.21 | Big 12 | Todd Harbour (10th) | 15 |
| 17 | Oklahoma State | 46.17 | Big 12 | Dave Smith (7th) | 16 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | 45.23 | Big Ten | Mick Byrne (2nd) | 17 |
| 19 | Akron | 43.62 | Mid-American | Dennis Mitchell (20th) | 18 |
| 20 | Purdue | 38.41 | Big Ten | Rolando Greene (3rd) | 20 |
| 21 | Florida State | 38.01 | ACC | Bob Braman (12th) | 19 |
| 22 | Houston | 35.79 | American | Leroy Burrell (17th) | 21 |
| 23 | Michigan State | 33.91 | Big Ten | Walt Drenth (9th) | 29 |
| 24 | BYU | 33.64 | MPSF | Ed Eyestone (2nd) | 24 |
| 25 | Kennesaw State | 33.51 | Atlantic Sun | Andy Eggerth (5th) | 22 |
| dropped out: No. 23 TCU | |||||
| View All Teams Beyond the Top 25 | |||||
| Men’s Conference Index Top 10 | |||
| Rank | Conference | Points | Top 25 Teams |
| 1 | SEC | 726.22 | 7 |
| 2 | Big Ten | 358.87 | 5 |
| 3 | MPSF | 340.76 | 3 |
| 4 | Big 12 | 315.37 | 4 |
| 5 | ACC | 227.10 | 2 |
| 6 | Mid-American | 119.56 | 1 |
| 7 | Big East | 112.13 | 1 |
| 8 | American | 80.51 | 1 |
| 9 | Conference USA | 67.47 | |
| 10 | Mountain West | 45.47 | |
| Men’s Regional Index Leaders | |||
| Region | Institution | Points | Last Week |
| Great Lakes | Indiana | 341.60 | 1 |
| Mid-Atlantic | Penn State | 365.60 | 1 |
| Midwest | Nebraska | 333.69 | 3 |
| Mountain | Texas Tech | 486.13 | 1 |
| Northeast | Cornell | 329.90 | 1 |
| South | Florida | 407.88 | 1 |
| South Central | Texas A&M | 518.39 | 2 |
| Southeast | South Carolina | 257.68 | 1 |
| West | Oregon | 514.69 | 1 |
| View All Regional Rankings | |||
USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION I | |||||
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25) | |||||
2015 Week #3 — February 9 | |||||
| next ranking: February 16 | |||||
| Rank | Institution | Points | Conference | Head Coach (Yr) | Last Week |
| 1 | Georgia | 174.75 | SEC | Wayne Norton (16th) | 2 |
| 2 | Florida | 171.80 | SEC | Mike Holloway (8th) | 1 |
| 3 | Arkansas | 157.09 | SEC | Lance Harter (25th) | 3 |
| 4 | Texas A&M | 142.00 | SEC | Pat Henry (11th) | 4 |
| 5 | Oregon | 135.81 | MPSF | Robert Johnson (3rd) | 5 |
| 6 | Texas | 116.75 | Big 12 | Mario Sategna (2nd) | 7 |
| 7 | Kentucky | 116.75 | SEC | Edrick Floreal (3rd) | 6 |
| 8 | Providence | 85.23 | Big East | Stephanie Reilly (1st) | 8 |
| 9 | Stanford | 70.49 | MPSF | Chris Miltenberg (3rd) | 9 |
| 10 | Kansas State | 69.40 | Big 12 | Cliff Rovelto (23rd) | 11 |
| 11 | Georgetown | 65.46 | Big East | Patrick Henner (8th) | 10 |
| 12 | Texas Tech | 56.61 | Big 12 | Wes Kittley (16th) | 18 |
| 13 | Florida State | 53.15 | ACC | Bob Braman (12th) | 12 |
| 14 | Akron | 50.49 | Mid-American | Dennis Mitchell (20th) | 15 |
| 15 | Oklahoma State | 49.04 | Big 12 | Dave Smith (6th) | 14 |
| 16 | Missouri | 48.83 | SEC | Brett Halter (5th) | 13 |
| 17 | Southern California | 48.80 | MPSF | Caryl Smith Gilbert (2nd) | 20 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | 42.95 | Big Ten | Mick Byrne (2nd) | 17 |
| 19 | UCLA | 42.29 | MPSF | Mike Maynard (3rd) | 16 |
| 20 | Michigan | 41.34 | Big Ten | James Henry (30th) | 21 |
| 21 | Maryland | 38.90 | Big Ten | Andrew Valmon (12th) | 22 |
| 22 | Clemson | 37.97 | ACC | Mark Elliott (2nd) | 24 |
| 23 | Auburn | 37.92 | SEC | Ralph Spry (18th) | 23 |
| 24 | Mississippi State | 37.89 | SEC | Steve Dudley (5th) | 19 |
| 25 | Southern Illinois | 36.96 | Missouri Valley | Connie Price-Smith (14th) | 28 |
| dropped out: No. 25 Michigan State | |||||
| View All Teams Beyond the Top 25 | |||||
| Women’s Conference Index Top 10 | |||
| Rank | Conference | Points | Top 25 Teams |
| 1 | SEC | 977.00 | 8 |
| 2 | Big 12 | 353.15 | 4 |
| 3 | MPSF | 343.14 | 4 |
| 4 | ACC | 247.15 | 2 |
| 5 | Big Ten | 238.24 | 3 |
| 6 | Big East | 172.18 | 2 |
| 7 | Mid-American | 70.70 | 1 |
| 8 | Missouri Valley | 45.07 | 1 |
| 9 | Summit League | 42.48 | |
| 10 | American | 38.90 | |
| Women’s Regional Index Leaders | |||
| Region | Institution | Points | Last Week |
| Great Lakes | Purdue | 278.13 | 1 |
| Mid-Atlantic | Penn State | 495.68 | 1 |
| Midwest | Kansas State | 377.14 | 1 |
| Mountain | Texas Tech | 503.16 | 1 |
| Northeast | Harvard | 317.25 | 1 |
| South | Florida | 368.05 | 1 |
| South Central | Arkansas | 593.07 | 1 |
| Southeast | Kentucky | 372.90 | 1 |
| West | Southern California | 388.78 | 2 |
| View All Regional Rankings | |||
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