Women’s Top-5 Shakeup Marks Week 2 Division I Rankings

By Dennis Young, USTFCCCA

February 2, 2015

NEW ORLEANS–National Meet of the Week host Arkansas was the biggest beneficiary of this weekend’s action, moving up to a season-high No. 3 in the women’s rankings. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released the full NCAA Division I Computer Rankings on Monday afternoon.

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The men’s top five was completely unchanged. Oregon and Florida, respectively, held down the top two spots for the second straight week, and Arkansas, Texas A&M, and Penn State occupied spots Nos. 3-5 for the third straight week.

There was less stasis in the women’s rankings. A bundle of sparkling performances at their own Razorback Invitational pushed the Hogs into the top three. Pentathlete Alex Gochenour and triple jumper Tamara Myers each posted the tenth-ranked mark in their respective events, combining for 21.28 rankings points.

And while their teammate Sandi Morris was already delivering 20+ points to Arkansas’s total, she cleared 4.65m (15-3) for the best ever pole vault clearance by a collegiate athlete at sea level.

Kentucky, Texas, and Providence came in at Nos. 6 through 8 for the second straight week. The only other change in the top ten was a flip-flop in the last two spots: Stanford jumped over Georgetown for the No. 9 rankings thanks to Jessica Tonn’s 3k at Razorback.

NCAA DIVISION I NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL TOP 5 – MEN
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Oregon	Florida	Arkansas	Texas A&M	Penn State
View Complete Men’s National Coaches’ Poll

NCAA DIVISION I NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL TOP 5 – WOMEN
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Florida	Georgia	Arkansas	Texas A&M	Oregon
View Complete Women’s National Coaches’ Poll

No. 13 Missouri made the biggest jump of the week in the women’s rankings, moving up 15 spots largely due to great throwing in New York. Shot putter Jill Rushin and weight thrower Kearsten Peoples set personal bests at the Armory Invitational to give the Tigers their highest ranking for either gender since the rankings began in 2008.

They were the only team to join the top 25 this week; they replaced Baylor.

None of the top six men’s teams changed places; No. 7 Nebraska and No. 8 LSU each moved up a place over now-No. 9 Stanford. Those three teams are some of the most tightly packed in the rankings, with only five points separating the trio.

Four team’s joined the men’s top 25 this week: No. 10 Virginia Tech, No. 22 Kennesaw State, No. 23 TCU, and No. 25 BYU. The latter duo catapulted into the top 25 from the 60s; TCU’s rise can be credited to two sprinters, while BYU got their points from mid-distance and distance. Horned Frogs Ronnie Baker and Sam Watts blazed their way to nationally elite sprint times (Baker in the 60, Watts in the 200) in New Mexico. BYU’s Shaquille Walker beat out multiple pros to win the 800 at Washington and his teammate Jason Witt set the meet record in the 5k there.

Virginia Tech followed a similar formula to crack the top ten for the fifth time in school history. (The Hokie men have finished in the top ten at two of the last three indoor national meets) Running on the JDL Fast Track–maybe the fastest flat 200 meter track in the country–miler Patrick Joseph and distance man Thomas Curtin ran 4:00 and 7:56 (3k) to give their team 26.36 points.

Look for meets at Notre Dame and Texas A&M this weekend to heavily factor into next week’s rankings–the final to include preseason data. The rankings will be tabulated and released every Monday afternoon between now and the March 13 NCAA Championships.

USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION I
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2015 Week #2 — February 2
next ranking: February 9

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Oregon	188.43	MPSF	Robert Johnson (3rd)	1
2	Florida	176.53	SEC	Mike Holloway (13th)	2
3	Arkansas	133.18	SEC	Chris Bucknam (7th)	3
4	Texas A&M	96.43	SEC	Pat Henry (11th)	4
5	Penn State	84.64	Big Ten	John Gondak (1st)	5
6	Georgia	72.78	SEC	Wayne Norton (16th)	6
7	Nebraska	66.26	Big Ten	Gary Pepin (32nd)	8
8	LSU	65.99	SEC	Dennis Shaver (11th)	9
9	Stanford	61.18	MPSF	Chris Miltenberg (3rd)	7
10	Virginia Tech	60.48	ACC	Dave Cianelli (14th)	22
11	Texas	60.08	Big 12	Mario Sategna (2nd)	10
12	Alabama	58.54	SEC	Dan Waters (4th)	11
13	Villanova	57.34	Big East	Marcus O’Sullivan (15th)	14
14	Texas Tech	56.23	Big 12	Wes Kittley (16th)	13
15	Baylor	52.31	Big 12	Todd Harbour (10th)	12
16	Oklahoma State	48.78	Big 12	Dave Smith (7th)	16
17	Wisconsin	46.32	Big Ten	Mick Byrne (2nd)	17
18	Akron	44.88	Mid-American	Dennis Mitchell (20th)	18
19	Florida State	44.52	ACC	Bob Braman (12th)	15
20	Purdue	39.63	Big Ten	Rolando Greene (3rd)	20
21	Houston	37.48	American	Leroy Burrell (17th)	19
22	Kennesaw State	37.20	Atlantic Sun	Andy Eggerth (5th)	26
23	TCU	36.18	Big 12	Darryl Anderson (11th)	61
24	BYU	35.90	MPSF	Ed Eyestone (2nd)	63
25	Tennessee	34.81	SEC	Beth Alford-Sullivan (1st)	21
dropped out: No. 23 Iowa State, No. 24 Kent State, No. 25 Michigan State
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	SEC	699.34	7
2	MPSF	354.19	3
3	Big Ten	346.06	4
4	Big 12	323.95	5
5	ACC	226.35	2
6	Mid-American	122.79	1
7	Big East	113.34	1
8	American	87.63	1
9	Conference USA	55.76
10	Mountain West	51.76

Men’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Great Lakes	Indiana	401.55	1
Mid-Atlantic	Penn State	340.44	2
Midwest	Illinois	297.07	1
Mountain	Texas Tech	441.43	1
Northeast	Cornell	284.99	1
South	Florida	413.88	1
South Central	Arkansas	450.64	2
Southeast	South Carolina	279.62	3
West	Oregon	558.63	1
View All Regional Rankings

USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION I
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD NATIONAL TEAM COMPUTER RANKINGS (TOP 25)
2015 Week #2 — February 2
next ranking: February 9

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Florida	174.57	SEC	Mike Holloway (8th)	1
2	Georgia	164.50	SEC	Wayne Norton (16th)	2
3	Arkansas	160.72	SEC	Lance Harter (25th)	5
4	Texas A&M	147.09	SEC	Pat Henry (11th)	3
5	Oregon	142.02	MPSF	Robert Johnson (3rd)	4
6	Kentucky	121.39	SEC	Edrick Floreal (3rd)	6
7	Texas	116.58	Big 12	Mario Sategna (2nd)	7
8	Providence	85.29	Big East	Stephanie Reilly (1st)	8
9	Stanford	70.88	MPSF	Chris Miltenberg (3rd)	10
10	Georgetown	66.13	Big East	Patrick Henner (8th)	9
11	Kansas State	65.17	Big 12	Cliff Rovelto (23rd)	12
12	Florida State	54.52	ACC	Bob Braman (12th)	11
13	Missouri	50.58	SEC	Brett Halter (5th)	28
14	Oklahoma State	49.90	Big 12	Dave Smith (6th)	13
15	Akron	46.72	Mid-American	Dennis Mitchell (20th)	18
16	UCLA	44.61	MPSF	Mike Maynard (3rd)	21
17	Wisconsin	44.24	Big Ten	Mick Byrne (2nd)	14
18	Texas Tech	43.02	Big 12	Wes Kittley (16th)	19
19	Mississippi State	42.51	SEC	Steve Dudley (5th)	20
20	Southern California	42.24	MPSF	Caryl Smith Gilbert (2nd)	17
21	Michigan	42.11	Big Ten	James Henry (30th)	15
22	Maryland	40.09	Big Ten	Andrew Valmon (12th)	16
23	Auburn	39.01	SEC	Ralph Spry (18th)	22
24	Clemson	37.81	ACC	Mark Elliott (2nd)	25
25	Michigan State	35.01	Big Ten	Walt Drenth (9th)	23
dropped out: No. 24 Baylor
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	SEC	994.89	8
2	MPSF	349.76	4
3	Big 12	334.79	4
4	ACC	248.25	2
5	Big Ten	238.24	4
6	Big East	174.11	2
7	Mid-American	69.96	1
8	Summit League	43.46
9	American	39.10
10	Missouri Valley	37.71

Women’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Great Lakes	Purdue	291.03	1
Mid-Atlantic	Penn State	467.62	1
Midwest	Kansas State	391.00	1
Mountain	Texas Tech	431.41	1
Northeast	Harvard	316.71	1
South	Florida	374.88	2
South Central	Arkansas	671.29	1
Southeast	Kentucky	394.16	1
West	Oregon	383.12	1
View All Regional Rankings