THE CONNING TOWER by Keith Conning: DIII Pre-Championship Rankings: La Crosse Men & Women Stay at No. 1

By Dennis Young, USTFCCCA

May 18, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – As has been the case in every set of rankings this outdoor season, the UW-La Crosse men and women are favored to win the team titles at this weekend’s NCAA Division III championships. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released the rankings on Monday.

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From 1988 to 1997 and 2000-2013, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) never went more than a year without winning at least one outdoor team NCAA championship. That streak looks like it will become 2000-2015, as the top three teams for both men and women are the same trio of WIAC schools. No. 1 La Crosse, No. 2 UW-Eau Claire, and No. 3 UW-Whitewater make up the top three for both sexes.
If La Crosse sweeps, the Eagles would be just the third DIII team to win two cross country or track team titles on the same day. St. Thomas (Minn.) swept the cross country championships in 1986, and Lincoln (Pa.) won both outdoor track & field titles in 2000, though their men shared the championship with North Central that year. For the La Crosse men, it would be their second championship in three years and their eighth since 2000. The UWL women haven’t won outdoors since 1984, though they did win an indoor championship just two months ago.
For the men and women of Eau Claire, it would be their second title in program history and their first ever outdoor title. The Eau Claire men won indoor nationals this March and the Blugold women won cross country nationals in 2009.

NCAA Division III Computer Rankings Top 5 – Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
UW-La Crosse	UW-Eau Claire	UW-Whitewater	St. Olaf	Monmouth (Ill.)
View Complete Men’s Computer Rankings

NCAA Division III Computer Rankings Top 5 – Women
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
UW-La Crosse	UW-Eau Claire	UW-Whitewater	UW-Oshkosh	MIT
View Complete Women’s Computer Rankings

For Whitewater’s teams, it would be their first national title ever in track & field or cross country.
These rankings are based on the championship entries. Let’s break down the team battles that start this Thursday at St. Lawrence.

Men’s teams

The men’s team battle—just like indoors, where Eau Claire won by two—will come down to La Crosse and Eau Claire, and it will be close. The two teams have the most entries (La Crosse has twenty, Eau Claire fifteen), and way more rankings points than the rest of the country: La Crosse has 217.51, Eau Claire has 197.25, and no one else has more than 110.
Eau Claire caught a significant break when Dubuque didn’t declare Ernest Winters for the meet. That means that Thurgood Dennis is the only man in the field who has broken 10.50 in the 100 with allowable wind this year. Eau Claire was able to win indoor nationals despite Dennis struggling with injury issues—he took second in the 60 and didn’t make the 200 final—but La Crosse’s depth means that the Blugolds will need every point they can get in Canton.
Dennis is one of six men on these two teams who has an NCAA individual championship. In their respective events, his teammates Roger Steen (shot put) and Brandon Zarnoth (multis) won indoor nationals in March, are ranked No. 1 in 2015, and are the top returners from 2014.
La Crosse equals their rivals with three NCAA titlists. Thrower Grant Havard has DIII’s No. 1 mark in the discus by four meters and is the defending national champion in the event. Dominique Neloms won the high jump and long jump at indoor nationals, and is ranked No. 1 in the high jump and No. 2 in the long jump. And Ross Denman won the 400 at indoor nationals despite only having the nation’s ninth fastest regular season time; he’ll try to repeat that feat this weekend, where he comes in with the No. 8 time on the entry list.
Assuming those six win eight national titles between them leaves the two teams tied at forty points. (This assumption has Neloms and Dennis pulling off doubles and Denman and Havard not scoring in their secondary events, though Havard is ranked sixth in the hammer)
Both teams have top four sprint relays; it’s somewhat safe to call that a wash as well. La Crosse’s edge comes from three entries in the pole vault, three in the hurdles, and three in the distances. The latter will be key. La Cross is projected to score two points total in the 800, 1500, and steeple, and Eau Clare is projected to get eight from Josh Thorson in the 5k.
But the distances are the events where the descending order sheets mean the least. Distance runners often get their regular season marks in just to qualify—though less so in DIII—and then compete hard at nationals. Eau Claire can make up serious points in the 5k and 10k; if they don’t, La Crosse can put the meet away in the field.
Four teams get to stand on the podium and collect trophies. Among the schools battling for the last two spots will be Whitewater, No. 4 St. Olaf, No. 5 Monmouth (Ill.), No. 6 Augustana (Ill.), No. 7 Salisbury, No. 8 North Central (Ill.), No. 9 UW-Oshkosh, and No. 10 Oneonta.
St. Olaf has six men in the 1500 meters; if they all advance out of the prelims, that would mean that fully half of the final would be from Olaf. Here’s how loaded the Ole 1500 crew is: they have the top three returners from last year’s NCAA final, and their top two finishers from that race–who were second and fourth in the nation a year ago—are only their second and fourth fastest men this year.

Women’s teams

In March, the UW-La Crosse women eked out a win by just six points over UW-Oshkosh for the first indoor national championship in team history. This May, the Eagles likely won’t have to sweat nearly as hard for their first outdoor title in three decades.

100 meter runner Meg Heafy (100) and triple jumper Bria Halama have Division III’s top marks in their primary events, and they’re tipped for top-three performances in their secondary events (200 for Heafy, and the 400 for Halama). Long jumper Bailey Alston and their 4×100 meter relay are ranked second on the descending order list, and Laura Mead is ranked fourth nationally in the 5k and 10k. Those four women plus the relay are projected to score sixty points, which would have been good enough to win nationals seven of the last ten years. And the Eagles could score a lot more than that.
With twenty-one entries—one and a half times more than any other team is bringing to Canton this week—the La Crosse women are heavily favored. They’re just a few rankings points shy of doubling up the entire country; at 252.36-131.03, the difference between No. 1 and No. 2 is the same as the gap between No. 2 and No. 77. The Eagles have fourteen women (if an athlete is in the top eight in two events, she’s counted twice) in the top eight on the descending lists, which is double the amount of projected scorers that any other team has.
No. 2 Eau Claire, No. 3 Whitewater, No. 4 Oshkosh, No. 5 MIT, No. 6 Illinois Wesleyan, No. 7 Baldwin Wallace, No. 8 Washington (Mo.), No. 9 North Central, and No. 10 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps are among the teams least interested in the preceding paragraphs. Wartburg’s women last year and Illinois Wesleyan’s women in 2010 were both ranked third before winning it all, though the three squads to win nationals from 2011-13 were all ranked No. 1 coming into the meet.
Though Oshkosh is only ranked fourth based on entry marks, the Titans could repeat their indoor runner-up finish. They have two women who won national championships in 2014 but lack the nation’s No. 1 mark in 2015. Kylie Verhasselt won the 800 at indoor nationals a year ago, and Jecel Klotz is defending outdoor national champ in the shot put.
The fight for the podium—four teams stand on it—will be intense. Eau Claire leads Whitewater by 7.50 rankings points, Whitewater leads Oshkosh by 6.04, and Oshkosh leads MIT by 7.87.

Regional rankings

In the final regional rankings, the same eight men’s teams that have led the way for most of the year stayed at No. 1. They would be Brockport in the Atlantic, Central (Iowa) in the Central, Wabash in the Great Lakes, Widener in the Mideast, La Crosse in the Midwest, MIT in New England, Christopher Newport in the South/Southeast, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the West.
La Crosse, MIT, Christopher Newport, and CMS swept their respective men’s and women’s regions. The other four women’s regional No. 1s were Rowan in the Atlantic, Wartburg in the Central, Calvin in the Great Lakes, and Johns Hopkins in the Mideast.
These are the final 2015 Division III rankings. The NCAA Championships begin Thursday, May 21 at St. Lawerence.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III
Men’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2015 Week #8 — May 18 (pre-championships)
next ranking: none, NCAA Championships (May 21-23)

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	UW-La Crosse	217.51	WIAC	Josh Buchholtz (7th)	1
2	UW-Eau Claire	197.25	WIAC	Chip Schneider (13th)	2
3	UW-Whitewater	110.19	WIAC	Mike Johnson (6th)	3
4	St. Olaf	102.39	MIAC	Phil Lundin (7th)	7
5	Monmouth (Ill.)	89.85	Midwest	Roger Haynes (32nd)	4
6	Augustana (Ill.)	88.49	CCIW	Paul Olsen (46th)	6
7	Salisbury	85.72	CAC	Jim Jones (16th)	5
8	North Central (Ill.)	73.08	CCIW	Frank Gramarosso (5th)	8
9	UW-Oshkosh	70.39	WIAC	Eamon McKenna (3rd)	20
10	SUNY Oneonta	67.46	SUNYAC	Angelo Posillico (2nd)	10
11	UW-Stout	66.64	WIAC	Kyle Steiner (2nd)	9
12	Greenville	62.36	SLIAC	Brian Patton (21st)	27
13	Whitworth	60.39	Northwest	Toby Schwarz (19th)	18
14	UW-Platteville	59.76	WIAC	Chris Rotzenberg (3rd)	19
15	Washington (Mo.)	58.57	UAA	Jeff Stiles (14th)	25
16	Williams	58.47	NESCAC	David Thompson (2nd)	17
17	Central (Iowa)	57.91	IIAC	Joe Dunham (7th)	16
18	Wartburg	56.45	IIAC	Marcus Newsom (17th)	12
19	Widener	54.73	Middle Atlantic	Vince Touey (28th)	29
20	Mount Union	53.19	OAC	Kevin Lucas (5th)	23
21	Wabash	48.93	NCAC	Clyde Morgan (7th)	11
22	Southern Maine	47.58	Little East	Ryan Harkleroad (1st)	26
23	UW-Stevens Point	46.44	WIAC	Rick Witt (36th)	14
24	UW-River Falls	45.36	WIAC	Matthew Cole (2nd)	28
25	Redlands	44.64	SCIAC	Mike Schmidt (8th)	24
dropped out: No. 13 Haverford, No. 15 Brockport, No. 21 Messiah, No. 22 SUNY Cortland
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	WIAC	813.54	8
2	CCIW	203.83	2
3	MIAC	168.93	1
4	SUNYAC	163.84	1
5	IIAC	156.43	2
6	CAC	143.34	1
7	NESCAC	132.00	1
8	UAA	131.11	1
9	Middle Atlantic	125.40	1
10	Midwest Conference	119.07	1

Men’s Regional Index Leaders (FINAL)
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Atlantic	Brockport	387.93	1
Central	Central (Iowa)	382.20	1
Great Lakes	Wabash	423.36	1
Mideast	Widener	448.04	1
Midwest	UW-La Crosse	495.10	1
New England	MIT	414.90	1
South/Southeast	Christopher Newport	435.67	1
West	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	507.67	1
View All Regional Rankings

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III
Women’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2015 Week #8 — May 18 (pre-championships)
next ranking: none, NCAA Championships (May 21-23)

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	UW-La Crosse	252.36	WIAC	Pat Healy (24th)	1
2	UW-Eau Claire	131.03	WIAC	Chip Schneider (9th)	2
3	UW-Whitewater	123.53	WIAC	Mike Johnson (4th)	8
4	UW-Oshkosh	117.49	WIAC	Ben Dorsey (3rd)	4
5	MIT	109.62	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (8th)	3
6	Illinois Wesleyan	94.88	CCIW	Chris Schumacher (18th)	5
7	Baldwin Wallace	89.32	OAC	Bill Taraschke (30th)	10
8	Washington (Mo.)	85.59	UAA	Jeff Stiles (14th)	6
9	North Central (Ill.)	80.65	CCIW	Kari Kluckhohn (12th)	9
10	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	77.60	SCIAC	Kelly Beck (1st)	7
11	Wartburg	73.72	IIAC	Marcus Newsom (17th)	19
12	Johns Hopkins	67.99	Centennial	Bobby Van Allen (16th)	11
13	Cal Lutheran	67.81	SCIAC	Matt Lea (7th)	16
14	Rowan	64.38	NJAC	Derick “Ringo” Adamson (8th)	17
15	Rhodes	63.66	SAA	Robert Shankman (24th)	12
16	Luther	60.02	IIAC	Jeffrey Wettach (9th)	30
17	UW-Stevens Point	58.33	WIAC	Brett Witt (1st)	14
18	UW-Stout	55.14	WIAC	Kyle Steiner (2nd)	13
19	Aurora	54.18	NACC	Ryan Chapman (7th)	21
20	UW-Platteville	53.74	WIAC	Chris Rotzenberg (3rd)	18
21	Williams	52.93	NESCAC	Nate Hoey (2nd)	22
22	St. Lawrence	50.96	Liberty League	Kate Curran (7th)	15
23	Lehman	45.86	CUNYAC	Pete Charles (3rd)	24
24	Ohio Wesleyan	44.99	NCAC	Kris Boey (13th)	23
25	St. Thomas (Minn.)	44.08	MIAC	Joe Sweeney (35th)	36
dropped out: No. 20 George Fox, No. 25 Cornell College
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	WIAC	793.12	7
2	IIAC	200.50	2
3	CCIW	190.11	2
4	SCIAC	185.60	2
5	NEWMAC	166.28	1
6	OAC	162.21	1
7	NJAC	139.62	1
8	NESCAC	130.72	1
9	MIAC	128.80	1
10	Centennial	125.83	1

Women’s Regional Index Leaders (FINAL)
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Atlantic	Rowan	282.00	4
Central	Wartburg	364.18	1
Great Lakes	Calvin	372.56	1
Mideast	Johns Hopkins	317.33	1
Midwest	UW-La Crosse	538.10	1
New England	MIT	527.65	1
South/Southeast	Christopher Newport	390.43	2
West	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	666.20	1
View All Regional Rankings