Ashland Men Reclaim No. 1 as Deep Team Races Continue Brewing

 

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA courtesy

May 5, 2015   

NEW ORLEANS – Another week, another new No. 1 team.

NCAA Division II National Team Rankings Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Ashland Saint Augustine’s Pittsburg St. Adams St.. TAMU-Kingsville View Complete Men’s National Coaches’ Poll NCAA Division II National Team Rankings Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Central Missouri Lincoln (Mo.) NM Highlands Pittsburg St. Saint Augustine’s View Complete Women’s National Coaches’ Poll

That’s been the recent pattern of the men’s NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings, and it continued again in the week eight edition released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
The men of Ashland regained top honors from two-time defending champion Saint Augustine’s, marking the fourth time in the past five weeks a different team has occupied the highest perch in the rankings.
With the regular season now down to its final weekend and with just over two weeks to go until the NCAA Championships in Allendale, Michigan, on May 21-23, the Eagles are currently very narrow favorites.
The GLIAC runners-up got big points from Jason Zahn – who moved to No. 4 in the discus and No. 10 in the shot put – to check in with 179.30 points, just 12 ahead of Saint Augustine’s at 167.53.

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But by no means are those two teams clear of the rest of the field. Seven more teams checked in with team totals between 124 points and 113 points – all of whom will be viable contenders for the top-four team podium spots, if not the team title.
MIAA champ Pittsburg State (124.11) moved back up eight spots to No. 3, just ahead of another top-five returner in cross country/indoor champion No. 4 Adams State (123.42). The No. 3 Gorillas were powered by top-10 newcomers No. 6 Tanner McNutt in the decathlon and No. 7 Bo Farrow in the discus.
Holding steady at No. 5 was Texas A&M Kingsville (123.33). Rounding out that chase group were No. 6 Findlay (120.69), GLIAC Champion No. 7 Grand Valley State (118.60). No. 8 Minnesota State (115.96), and No. 9 Texas A&M-Commerce (113.93).
Kingsville and Commerce will square off this weekend for the Lone Star Conference title, while Minnesota State has the NSIC Championships upcoming.
On the women’s side, the pattern has been much different, as indoor champion Central Missouri continued to reign over the rankings for the sixth week in a row.
However, for the fifth week in a row, a new team emerged as a top challenger to the Jennies, and this time it is a foe most formidable. Defending outdoor champion Lincoln (Mo.) improved seven spots following its third-place effort at the MIAA Championships.
The Blue Tigers’ ascent was powered by Ladonna Richards, Janae Johnson and its 800-meter corps. Richards took the national lead in the 100 hurdles and moved to No. 8 in the 400 hurdles, while Johnson moved to No. 2 at 100 meters and No. 6 at 200. At 800 meters, the duo of Jhevere Hall and Monique Thompson came in at No. 4 and No. 7, respectively.
Who won that conference? It wasn’t Lincoln or even top-ranked UCM. Rather, it was Pittsburg State, which climbed one position to No. 4 to give the MIAA three of the top four teams in the nation.
Sandwiched in between at No. 3 was New Mexico Highlands, which improved one position from a week ago after winning its first ever RMAC title. The Cowgirls were led by National Athlete of the Week Salcia Slack, who won three individual titles and scored an incredible 59 points.
While UCM has a nearly 50-point advantage over the rest of the field at 194.31 points, the team and podium races should still be very dramatic. No. 2 Lincoln (147.88) and No. 3 NMHU (144.55) are separated by just three points – a virtual tie – while Pittsburg State (131.75), No. 5 Saint Augustine’s (126.23), and GLIAC Champion No. 6 Grand Valley State (122.67) are all very much in the conversation.
Also in the hunt in the 100-point ballpark are No. 7 Hillsdale (108.27), No. 8 Ashland (100.79), No.9 Azusa Pacific (98.17) and No. 10 Adams State (95.55).
The regional scene was mostly quiet. Only three new teams moved to No. 1 – all women’s teams – with Pittsburg State in the Central, Shorter in the South and New Mexico Highlands in the South Central.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division II
Men’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2015 Week #8 — May 5
next ranking: May 12
Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Ashland	179.30	GLIAC	Jud Logan (12th)	2
2	Saint Augustine’s	167.53	CIAA	George Williams (39th)	1
3	Pittsburg State	124.11	MIAA	Russ Jewett (27th)	11
4	Adams State	123.42	RMAC	Rock Light (2nd)	6
5	Texas A&M-Kingsville	123.33	Lone Star	Ryan Dall (7th)	5
6	Findlay	120.69	GLIAC	Marc Arce (27th)	8
7	Grand Valley State	118.60	GLIAC	Jerry Baltes (16th)	7
8	Minnesota State	115.96	NSIC	Jim Dilling (2nd)	4
9	Texas A&M-Commerce	113.93	Lone Star	Tom Dibbern (2nd)	3
10	Central Missouri	99.34	MIAA	Kirk Pedersen (19th)/Kip Janvrin (17th)	21
11	Missouri Southern	94.77	MIAA	Bryan Schiding (2nd)	19
12	Shippensburg	94.76	PSAC	Dave Osanitsch (10th)	16
13	Angelo State	86.25	Lone Star	James Reid (16th)	10
14	Colorado Mines	84.59	RMAC	Matt Sparks (2nd)	12
15	West Texas A&M	83.19	Lone Star	Darren Flowers (6th)	9
16	Alaska Anchorage	82.24	GNAC	Michael Friess (25th)	13
17	Southern Indiana	80.14	GLVC	Mike Hillyard (17th)	17
18	Tiffin	79.66	GLIAC	Jeremy Croy (15th)	20
19	Chico State	69.76	CCAA	Oliver Hanf (3rd)	14
20	Johnson C. Smith	66.02	CIAA	Lennox Graham (8th)	18
21	Stillman	64.20	SIAC	Pierre Goode (7th)	31
22	Azusa Pacific	63.20	PacWest	Kevin Reid (20th)	15
23	Hillsdale	58.56	GLIAC	Andrew Towne (1st)	28
24	Lincoln (Mo.)	54.35	MIAA	Victor Thomas (14th)	29
25	CSU-Pueblo	49.48	RMAC	Matt Morris (2nd)	24
dropped out: No. 22 Tarleton State, No. 23 Western Washington, No. 25 Cal Poly Pomona
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	GLIAC	664.80	5
2	MIAA	496.23	4
3	Lone Star	465.89	4
4	RMAC	360.71	3
5	CIAA	251.43	2
6	CCAA	212.13	1
7	GNAC	168.39	1
8	NSIC	161.08	1
9	PSAC	138.07	1
10	PacWest	124.21	1

Men’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Atlantic	Shippensburg	670.53	1
Central	Pittsburg State	405.72	1
East	Southern Connecticut	605.78	1
Midwest	Grand Valley State	492.96	1
South	Shorter	369.40	1
South Central	Texas A&M-Commerce	507.97	1
Southeast	Mount Olive	550.05	1
West	Chico State	447.24	1
View All Regional Rankings

USTFCCCA NCAA Division II
Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2015 Week #8 — May 5
next ranking: May 12
Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Central Missouri	194.31	MIAA	Kirk Pedersen (19th)/Kip Janvrin (17th)	1
2	Lincoln (Mo.)	147.88	MIAA	Victor Thomas (14th)	9
3	New Mexico Highlands	144.55	RMAC	Bob DeVries (23rd)	4
4	Pittsburg State	131.75	MIAA	Russ Jewett (29th)	5
5	Saint Augustine’s	126.23	CIAA	George Williams (39th)	3
6	Grand Valley State	122.67	GLIAC	Jerry Baltes (16th)	2
7	Hillsdale	108.27	GLIAC	Andrew Towne (4th)	10
8	Ashland	100.79	GLIAC	Jud Logan (12th)	6
9	Azusa Pacific	98.17	PacWest	Preston Grey (3rd)	7
10	Adams State	95.55	RMAC	Rock Light (2nd)	11
11	West Texas A&M	78.42	Lone Star	Darren Flowers (6th)	8
12	Simon Fraser	65.81	GNAC	Brit Townsend (15th)	14
13	Wayne State (Neb.)	65.58	NSIC	Marlon Brink (15th)	15
14	Shorter	60.90	Peach Belt	Scott Byrd (8th)	23
15	Angelo State	60.63	Lone Star	James Reid (16th)	12
16	Lewis	58.71	GLVC	Dana Schwarting (10th)	17
17	Winona State	57.95	NSIC	Mason Rebarchek (11th)	18
18	Southern Connecticut	55.90	Northeast-10	Melissa Stoll (3rd)	46
19	Texas A&M-Kingsville	54.03	Lone Star	Ryan Dall (7th)	16
20	Western Washington	53.31	GNAC	Pee Wee Halsell (28th)	20
21	Winston-Salem State	52.76	CIAA	Inez Turner (6th)	13
22	New Haven	51.60	Northeast-10	Shaunnaya Williams (4th)	22
23	Alaska Anchorage	50.52	GNAC	Michael Friess (25th)	24
24	Tarleton State	48.55	Lone Star	Patrick Ponder (9th)	19
25	Fort Hays State	44.45	MIAA	Dennis Weber (22nd)	25
dropped out: No. 21 Johnson C. Smith
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	MIAA	659.08	4
2	GLIAC	473.46	3
3	RMAC	360.43	2
4	NSIC	289.30	2
5	CIAA	280.23	2
6	Lone Star	265.74	4
7	GNAC	229.12	3
8	GLVC	182.79	1
9	Northeast-10	147.59	2
10	PacWest	126.19	1

Women’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Atlantic	Shippensburg	435.78	1
Central	Pittsburg State	411.51	2
East	Southern Connecticut	553.65	1
Midwest	Grand Valley State	517.97	1
South	Shorter	419.59	3
South Central	New Mexico Highlands	422.73	3
Southeast	Queens (N.C.)	446.40	1
West	Azusa Pacific	398.51	1
View All Regional Rankings