DI Rankings Tighten Ahead of Big Conference Championships Weekend

 

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

May 11, 2015   

NEW ORLEANS – Though many top teams were dormant this weekend in preparation for the coming madness of Conference Championships Weekend – the finale of the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field regular season – the few teams that did compete continued to draw the team title races ever closer.
The top-ranked Texas A&M men and defending indoor champion Arkansas women remained on top of the National Team Computer Rankings – released Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) – for another week despite idling ahead of the hyper-competitive SEC Championships, but both squads lost ground to their respective chase packs.

NCAA Division I National Team Rankings Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Texas A&M LSU Florida Oregon Southern Cal View Complete Men’s National Rankings NCAA Division I National Team Rankings Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 3) 4) Arkansas Southern Cal Georgia Florida Texas View Complete Women’s National Team Rankings

The team races projected by the rankings throughout the season will come to a head at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on June 10-13 – all of which will be broadcast live on ESPN’s television and web platforms.
Of those two No. 1 teams, Arkansas faces the most pressing danger of losing its top spot. The Razorbacks checked in with 304.20 team rankings points (see the full explanation of the rankings system here), down 10 from a week ago, while No. 2 Southern California gained a point to end up within seven of the Razorbacks at 297.23.
Both find themselves in heavy pursuit from an SEC squad that didn’t rest this past weekend ahead of the conference meet: No. 3 Georgia. The Bulldogs (270.89) climbed three spots from a week ago behind stellar jumps action at their home Georgia Invitational.

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Already the collegiate leader in the triple jump, frosh phenom Keturah Orji added to her credentials by taking a share of the national lead in the long jump at 21-9 (6.63m), as teammate Kendell Williams – competing for the first time since a disappointing DNF in the Drake Relays heptathlon – moved to No. 4 on the national list at 21-2½ (6.46m).
Along with No. 5 Chanice Porter, the Bulldogs how have three of the nation’s five best long jumpers of 2015. Porter also moved to No. 11 on the high jump list this weekend, the last before facing the gauntlet of the SEC.
That SEC meet – to be held this Thursday through Saturday in Starkville, Mississippi – will feature six of the top nine women’s teams in the country.
The Bulldogs’ ascent dropped No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Texas and No. 6 Kentucky all down one spot from a week ago.
Beyond those top six teams, only No. 7 Oregon checked in north of the 200-point line that has historically produced national podium contenders. No. 8 LSU and defending national champion No. 9 Texas A&M fell just shy of that mark this week, but have the hyper-competitive SEC meet on the horizon.
Not to be overlooked in favor of the SEC are the Pac-12 Championships (No. 2 Southern California, No. 7 Oregon and No. 13 Stanford) and the Big 12 Championships (No. 5 Texas, No. 10 Texas Tech, No. 11 Kansas State and No. 12 Baylor).
The men’s top five – while not as dynamic as the women’s this week – was not without some movement of its own.
No. 1 Texas A&M (318.60), No. 2 LSU (273.25) and No. 3 Florida (262.12) remained in place ahead of their showdown in Starkville this weekend – which will also feature two additional top-nine teams in No. 8 Arkansas and No. 9 Georgia – while defending national outdoor champ/two-time reigning indoor champ No. 4 Oregon (247.98) swapped spots with No. 5 Southern California (239.94).
Those two will go head-to-head at the Pac-12 Championships this Saturday and Sunday at UCLA.
Beyond that swap, only a No. 9-No. 10 swap between Georgia and Baylor caused further stir in the top 10.
The Big 12 meet will also be one of national intrigue on the men’s side, as No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Texas Tech and No. 10 Baylor will all square off with one another.
The biggest moves in the rankings came from a pair of newcomers to the men’s top 25 in No. 25 Arkansas State (up 16 positions) and No. 21 Tulsa (up eight). Making the biggest move of the week for the women was No. 10 Texas Tech (up five).
At the regional level, only the men’s rankings saw changes at the top. Nebraska took control of the Midwest Region and Texas Tech edged past BYU in the Mountain Region.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division I
Men’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2015 Week #6 — May 11
next ranking: May 18
Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Texas A&M	318.60	SEC	Pat Henry (11th)	1
2	LSU	273.25	SEC	Dennis Shaver (11th)	2
3	Florida	262.12	SEC	Mike Holloway (13th)	3
4	Oregon	247.98	Pac-12	Robert Johnson (3rd)	5
5	Southern California	239.94	Pac-12	Caryl Smith Gilbert (2nd)	4
6	Texas	171.87	Big 12	Mario Sategna (2nd)	6
7	Texas Tech	170.22	Big 12	Wes Kittley (16th)	7
8	Arkansas	166.32	SEC	Chris Bucknam (7th)	8
9	Georgia	159.03	SEC	Wayne Norton (16th)	10
10	Baylor	136.15	Big 12	Todd Harbour (10th)	9
11	Penn State	131.89	Big Ten	John Gondak (1st)	12
12	Alabama	131.57	SEC	Dan Waters (4th)	11
13	Virginia	119.94	ACC	Bryan Fetzer (4th)	13
14	BYU	115.51	Independent	Ed Eyestone (2nd)	14
15	Florida State	104.05	ACC	Bob Braman (12th)	15
16	TCU	100.80	Big 12	Darryl Anderson (11th)	16
17	Illinois	96.50	Big Ten	Mike Turk (6th)	17
18	Mississippi State	94.24	SEC	Steve Dudley (5th)	18
19	Syracuse	94.08	ACC	Chris Fox (10th)	19
20	Kansas State	88.64	Big 12	Cliff Rovelto (23rd)	20
21	Tulsa	87.21	American	Steve Gulley (13th)	29
22	South Carolina	81.91	SEC	Curtis Frye (19th)	21
23	Stanford	79.09	Pac-12	Chris Miltenberg (3rd)	25
24	Tennessee	78.75	SEC	Beth Alford-Sullivan (1st)	22
25	Arkansas State	75.80	Sun Belt	Jim Patchell (4th)	41
dropped out: No. 23 Akron, No. 24 Oklahoma State
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	SEC	1720.02	9
2	Pac-12	897.56	3
3	Big 12	850.47	5
4	ACC	607.99	3
5	Big Ten	525.84	2
6	Mid-American	227.07
7	Sun Belt	219.30	1
8	American	216.97	1
9	Conference USA	204.16
10	Ivy	120.16

Men’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Great Lakes	Indiana	675.73	1
Mid-Atlantic	Princeton	833.05	1
Midwest	Nebraska	621.88	2
Mountain	Texas Tech	905.20	2
Northeast	Cornell	671.39	1
South	Florida	744.58	1
South Central	Texas A&M	891.35	1
Southeast	Virginia	589.63	1
West	Oregon	923.66	1
View All Regional Rankings

USTFCCCA NCAA Division I
Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2015 Week #6 — May 11
next ranking: May 18
Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Arkansas	304.20	SEC	Lance Harter (25th)	1
2	Southern California	297.23	Pac-12	Caryl Smith Gilbert (2nd)	2
3	Georgia	270.89	SEC	Wayne Norton (16th)	6
4	Florida	265.70	SEC	Mike Holloway (8th)	3
5	Texas	257.47	Big 12	Mario Sategna (2nd)	4
6	Kentucky	233.16	SEC	Edrick Floreal (3rd)	5
7	Oregon	205.60	Pac-12	Robert Johnson (3rd)	7
8	LSU	194.75	SEC	Dennis Shaver (11th)	8
9	Texas A&M	186.64	SEC	Pat Henry (11th)	9
10	Texas Tech	145.46	Big 12	Wes Kittley (16th)	15
11	Kansas State	140.39	Big 12	Cliff Rovelto (23rd)	10
12	Baylor	137.17	Big 12	Todd Harbour (10th)	11
13	Stanford	119.06	Pac-12	Chris Miltenberg (3rd)	13
14	Michigan State	118.85	Big Ten	Walt Drenth (9th)	12
15	Florida State	108.33	ACC	Bob Braman (12th)	14
16	Alabama	96.15	SEC	Dan Waters (4th)	16
17	Clemson	90.95	ACC	Mark Elliott (2nd)	18
18	Oklahoma State	90.18	Big 12	Dave Smith (6th)	17
19	Mississippi State	89.73	SEC	Steve Dudley (5th)	19
20	Iona	88.39	Metro Atlantic	Ricardo Santos (7th)	22
21	Virginia Tech	87.58	ACC	Dave Cianelli (14th)	24
22	Kansas	86.68	Big 12	Stanley Redwine (15th)	21
23	Notre Dame	85.22	ACC	Alan Turner (1st)	23
24	North Carolina	81.83	ACC	Harlis Meaders (3rd)	20
25	Missouri	76.75	SEC	Brett Halter (5th)	25
dropped out: none
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	SEC	1922.40	9
2	Big 12	952.72	6
3	Pac-12	880.29	3
4	ACC	740.48	5
5	Big Ten	559.64	1
6	Ivy	169.60
7	Mid-American	169.31
8	Missouri Valley	165.61
9	American	140.90
10	Mountain West	133.33

Women’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Great Lakes	Michigan State	653.30	1
Mid-Atlantic	Penn State	824.03	1
Midwest	Kansas State	564.02	1
Mountain	Texas Tech	824.07	1
Northeast	Harvard	668.29	1
South	Florida	655.61	1
South Central	Arkansas	968.34	1
Southeast	Kentucky	788.82	1
West	Oregon	810.30	1
View All Regional Rankings