THE CONNING TOWER by Keith Conning: Men’s Team Battle Tightens in Week 7 DIII Rankings

By Dennis Young, USTFCCCA

May 12, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – The final edition of the NCAA Division III track & field computer team rankings based on the descending order lists—next week’s will be based on the championship entries—look a lot like the first seven editions.

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UW-La Crosse’s men and women were ranked No. 1, as they have been in all eight rankings. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released today’s edition.
(Note: today’s rankings were compiled on Monday morning before the early-week last chance meets)
Ninety miles north of La Crosse, the men and women of UW-Eau Claire were perched at No. 2 for the second straight week. (The Blugold men have been ranked second or third all season.
UW-La Crosse’s grip on the women’s top spot loosened very slightly, but they still have nearly double the rankings points of any other team. But the men’s team battle is shaping up to be as spicy as it was at indoor nationals, where Eau Claire slipped by La Crosse by two points. La Crosse’s lead over the UWEC men was the narrowest it has been all season–just 7.06 points.
For the third straight week, the UW-Whitewater men filled out the top three. The next four men’s teams shuffled around slightly: they were No. 4 Monmouth (Ill.), No. 5 Salisbury, No. 6 Augustana (Ill.), and No. 7 St. Olaf.
Joining them in the top ten for the first team in nearly a month was No. 8 North Central (Ill.). The Cardinals were ranked in the top four for the first three weeks of the season, before spending an unprecedented three straight weeks out of the top ten.

NCAA Division III Computer Rankings Top 5 – Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
UW-La Crosse	UW-Eau Claire	UW-Whitewater	Monmouth (Ill.)	Salisbury
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	MIT	UW-Oshkosh	Illinois Wesleyan
View Complete Women’s Computer Rankings

They picked up twelve points from Aron Sebhat slashing his 1500 PR from 3:52 to 3:47 on his home track.
Further down the men’s rankings, SUNY Oneonta rejoined the top ten after exactly one week away. The Red Dragons were ranked No. 10 for the fourth time in the last seven weeks.
No. 12 Wartburg, No. 19 UW-Platteville, and No. 25 Washington (Mo.) were the three teams to join the men’s top twenty-five this week.
WashU made the biggest leap of the week. The Bears clawed their way from No. 58 to No. 25 after Deko Ricketts (800), Josh Clark (1500), and Drew Padgett (5k) went for a whopping thirty-eight rankings points after posting nationally elite times at North Central’s Dr. Keeler Invitational.
In the women’s rankings:
Past La Crosse and Eau Claire, No. 3 MIT, No. 4 UW-Oshkosh, and No. 5 Illinois Wesleyan were the rest of the top five. All three of those schools have been ranked in the top five at least three times this year.
No. 6 WashU, No. 7 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, No. 8 Whitewater, No. 9 North Central, and No. 10 Baldwin Wallace all returned to the top ten for the second straight week.
Just one women’s team joined the rankings this week. That would be No. 25 Cornell College of Iowa, which moved up four slots. The two biggest moves came from national championship hosts St. Lawrence–up eight to No. 15 after Divya Biswal’s massive 5.80m long jump–and No. 12 Rhodes, also up eight slots. Rhodes and Cornell both made their moves thanks to other teams’ athletes sliding down the descending order lists, while their athletes held steady.
The DIII pre-championship rankings will be released Monday, May 18.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III
Men’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2015 Week #7 — May 12
next ranking: May 18 (pre-championships)

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	UW-La Crosse	215.69	WIAC	Josh Buchholtz (7th)	1
2	UW-Eau Claire	185.14	WIAC	Chip Schneider (13th)	2
3	UW-Whitewater	122.50	WIAC	Mike Johnson (6th)	3
4	Salisbury	100.56	CAC	Jim Jones (16th)	17
5	Augustana (Ill.)	93.81	CCIW	Paul Olsen (46th)	5
6	Monmouth (Ill.)	90.74	Midwest Conference	Roger Haynes (32nd)	4
7	St. Olaf	89.84	MIAC	Phil Lundin (7th)	6
8	UW-Stout	76.28	WIAC	Kyle Steiner (2nd)	15
9	Wabash	71.91	NCAC	Clyde Morgan (7th)	7
10	Brockport	69.67	SUNYAC	Ed Jaskulski (3rd)	18
11	Haverford	67.08	Centennial	Tom Donnelly (40th)	13
12	North Central (Ill.)	66.74	CCIW	Frank Gramarosso (5th)	16
13	Mount Union	63.97	OAC	Kevin Lucas (5th)	8
14	SUNY Oneonta	63.34	SUNYAC	Angelo Posillico (2nd)	10
15	Whitworth	61.76	Northwest Conference	Toby Schwarz (19th)	9
16	Central (Iowa)	61.61	IIAC	Joe Dunham (7th)	12
17	UW-Oshkosh	58.49	WIAC	Eamon McKenna (3rd)	11
18	Redlands	58.38	SCIAC	Mike Schmidt (8th)	24
19	Williams	56.67	NESCAC	David Thompson (2nd)	14
20	UW-Stevens Point	55.94	WIAC	Rick Witt (36th)	38
21	Messiah	52.73	Middle Atlantic	Dale Fogelsanger (21st)	22
22	Widener	50.52	Middle Atlantic	Vince Touey (28th)	19
23	UW-River Falls	47.80	WIAC	Matthew Cole (2nd)	27
24	Occidental	46.03	SCIAC	Robert Bartlett (10th)	56
25	SUNY Cortland	45.23	SUNYAC	Steve Patrick (8th)	32
dropped out: No. 22 Widener, No. 23 UW-River Falls, No. 24 Occidental
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	WIAC	795.88	7
2	CCIW	218.80	2
3	SUNYAC	207.65	3
4	IIAC	182.21	1
5	SCIAC	172.61	2
6	Middle Atlantic	158.13	2
7	NESCAC	148.78	1
8	NCAC	143.76	1
9	CAC	142.62	1
10	Midwest Conference	141.96	1

Men’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Atlantic	Brockport	392.84	1
Central	Central (Iowa)	385.76	1
Great Lakes	Wabash	450.11	1
Mideast	Widener	435.61	1
Midwest	UW-La Crosse	488.26	1
New England	MIT	412.90	1
South/Southeast	Christopher Newport	415.50	1
West	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	516.88	1
View All Regional Rankings

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III
Women’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2015 Week #7 — May 12
next ranking: May 18 (pre-championships)

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	UW-La Crosse	283.87	WIAC	Pat Healy (24th)	1
2	UW-Eau Claire	141.69	WIAC	Chip Schneider (9th)	3
3	UW-Oshkosh	117.25	WIAC	Ben Dorsey (3rd)	9
4	MIT	116.91	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (8th)	5
5	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	107.27	SCIAC	Kelly Beck (1st)	2
6	Washington (Mo.)	105.55	UAA	Jeff Stiles (14th)	7
7	Illinois Wesleyan	102.89	CCIW	Chris Schumacher (18th)	4
8	UW-Whitewater	90.77	WIAC	Mike Johnson (4th)	18
9	Baldwin Wallace	85.29	OAC	Bill Taraschke (30th)	6
10	North Central (Ill.)	82.76	CCIW	Kari Kluckhohn (12th)	8
11	Johns Hopkins	74.65	Centennial	Bobby Van Allen (16th)	12
12	UW-Stout	68.58	WIAC	Kyle Steiner (2nd)	29
13	Rowan	65.44	NJAC	Derick “Ringo” Adamson (8th)	41
14	George Fox	63.97	Northwest Conference	John Smith (9th)	14
15	Ohio Wesleyan	62.07	NCAC	Kris Boey (13th)	22
16	Cal Lutheran	61.07	SCIAC	Matt Lea (7th)	13
17	UW-Platteville	58.30	WIAC	Chris Rotzenberg (3rd)	36
18	UW-Stevens Point	57.92	WIAC	Brett Witt (1st)	24
19	Wartburg	56.93	IIAC	Marcus Newsom (17th)	11
20	Rhodes	53.97	SAA	Robert Shankman (24th)	10
21	Aurora	51.92	NACC	Ryan Chapman (7th)	25
22	SUNY Oneonta	49.49	SUNYAC	Angelo Posillico (2nd)	17
23	St. Lawrence	48.57	Liberty League	Kate Curran (7th)	21
24	Lehman	46.98	CUNYAC	Pete Charles (3rd)	16
25	Williams	46.69	NESCAC	Nate Hoey (2nd)	38
dropped out: No. 22 SUNY Oneonta
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	WIAC	823.42	7
2	SCIAC	209.59	2
3	CCIW	190.41	2
4	NEWMAC	160.86	1
5	NESCAC	159.97	1
6	Centennial	150.71	1
7	Northwest Conference	147.55	1
8	SUNYAC	137.74	1
9	MIAC	136.00
10	IIAC	133.86	1

Women’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Atlantic	Ithaca	274.78	1
Central	Wartburg	356.32	1
Great Lakes	Calvin	377.21	2
Mideast	Johns Hopkins	338.57	1
Midwest	UW-La Crosse	553.38	1
New England	MIT	533.30	1
South/Southeast	Emory	376.86	1
West	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	673.32	1
View All Regional Rankings