THE CONNING TOWER by Keith Conning: Teams Continue to Play “Hot Potato” With No. 1 Ranking in NCAA DI Women’s ITF

Courtesy By Tyler Mayforth, USTFCCCA

February 22, 2016

NEW ORLEANS — One performance can impact the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Team Computer Rankings in a big way.

NCAA Division I National Team Rankings Top 5 – Women
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Oregon	Georgia	Florida	Arkansas	Texas
156.38 pts	153.20 pts	152.14 pts	138.16 pts	95.07 pts
View Complete Women’s National Coaches’ Poll

Just ask the Oregon Ducks what Raevyn Rogers‘ historic run this past weekend at the Millrose Games did for them.
Rogers, the 2015 NCAA 800-meter champ outdoors, blistered The Armory track over the same distance. The sophomore clocked the second fastest time in collegiate history (2:00.90), falling just shy of the collegiate record (2:00.75).
Thanks to Rogers’ incredible effort, Oregon leapfrogged Florida and is the No. 1 team in the nation with less than three weeks remaining until the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. This is also the final week of the regular season, which means athletes have until Sunday to qualify for a spot in Birmingham, Alabama.

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Georgia, last week’s No. 3 team, also jumped the Gators. That pushes Florida, last week’s No. 1 team, down to No. 3.
The race for No. 1 is incredibly close, too. The Ducks (156.38), the Bulldogs (153.20) and the Gators (152.14) are all separated by a total of 4.14 points.
Points in the National Team Computer Rankings are tabulated by a formula based on the descending order list. The higher ranked an athlete is, the more points she provides her team. Rankings points, however, don’t equate with NCAA championship team points — they just serve as a predictor for those teams that could do well at the championship level.
If you want to learn more about the National Team Computer Rankings, a full description can be found here.
The National Team Computer Rankings shouldn’t be referred to as a “poll,” as no voting occurs during the process.
This is the first time since Week 5 in 2014 that Oregon has been ranked No. 1. That same year the Ducks won their fifth national title in a row, matching the streak LSU put together from 1993 until 1997.
For Oregon to win its sixth national championship, it will have to fend off a bevy of contenders, namely Georgia, Florida and Arkansas — the three teams, along with the Ducks, with more than 100 points in the National Team Computer Rankings.
Another team making headway this week was Michigan, which moved up three spots from No. 9 to No. 6. The Wolverines are just 2.97 points from the top-5. This is Michigan’s first time in the top-6 since 2009.
This past weekend was a big one for the Wolverines, as their distance medley relay team of Maya Long, Shannon Osika, Danielle Pfeifer and Jaimie Phelan ran the nation’s third fastest time of the season at Notre Dame’s Alex Wilson Invitational (10:58.25).
LSU took advantage of its home meet this past weekend and climbed 10 spots (No. 22 to No. 12). The Tigers saw Mikiah Brisco and Daeshon Gordon nab the fourth and sixth fastest times of the season in the 60 hurdles.
There were two new additions to the top-25 this week — No. 23 New Mexico (up from No. 33 last week) and No. 24 Baylor (up from No. 30). This is the best ranking for the Lobos in program history, while the Bears have a little bit to go to get theirs (No. 7 in 2008).

USTFCCCA NCAA Division I
Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2016 Week #5 — February 22
next ranking: February 29

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Oregon	156.38	MPSF	Robert Johnson (4th)	2
2	Georgia	153.20	SEC	Petros Kyprianou (1st)	3
3	Florida	152.14	SEC	Mike Holloway (9th)	1
4	Arkansas	138.16	SEC	Lance Harter (26th)	4
5	Texas	95.07	Big 12	Mario Sategna (3rd)	5
6	Michigan	92.11	Big Ten	James Henry (31st)	9
7	Kansas State	86.79	Big 12	Cliff Rovelto (24th)	6
8	Tennessee	83.85	SEC	Beth Alford-Sullivan (2nd)	7
9	NC State	74.14	ACC	Rollie Geiger (32nd)	8
10	Southern California	72.19	MPSF	Caryl Smith Gilbert (3rd)	10
11	Oklahoma State	69.41	Big 12	Dave Smith (7th)	12
12	LSU	67.18	SEC	Dennis Shaver (12th)	22
13	Notre Dame	65.66	ACC	Alan Turner (2nd)	15
14	Georgetown	65.13	Big East	Michael Smith (1st)	11
15	Kentucky	58.49	SEC	Edrick Floreal (4th)	13
16	Duke	54.09	ACC	Norm Ogilvie (13th)	17
17	Washington	51.34	MPSF	Greg Metcalf (14th)	14
18	Miami (Fla.)	47.79	ACC	Amy Deem (26th)	16
19	Boise State	46.67	Mountain West	Corey Ihmels (3rd)	18
20	Texas A&M	44.12	SEC	Pat Henry (12th)	19
21	Akron	42.74	Mid-American	Dennis Mitchell (21st)	23
22	Wisconsin	37.50	Big Ten	Mick Byrne (3rd)	24
23	New Mexico	36.37	Mountain West	Joe Franklin (9th)	33
24	Baylor	36.04	Big 12	Todd Harbour (11th)	30
25	Purdue	35.85	Big Ten	Rolando Greene (4th)	21
Dropped out: No. 20 Stanford, No. 25 Auburn
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	SEC	814.22	7
2	ACC	373.41	4
3	Big 12	362.00	4
4	MPSF	348.55	3
5	Big Ten	261.24	3
6	Big East	100.41	1
7	Mountain West	90.14	2
8	Mid-American	46.18	1
9	Ivy	44.44
10	Summit League	39.31

Women’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Great Lakes	Michigan	393.52	1
Mid-Atlantic	Penn State	581.90	1
Midwest	Kansas State	305.61	1
Mountain	Texas Tech	396.50	1
Northeast	Harvard	306.62	1
South	Florida	325.45	1
South Central	Arkansas	639.08	1
Southeast	Kentucky	413.87	1
West	Oregon	557.54	1
View All Regional Rankings