Conference Title Not Enough to Keep Arkansas No. 1; Two-Time Champs Florida Moves Up

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Conference Title Not Enough to Keep Arkansas No. 1; Two-Time Champs Florida Moves Up

Oregon’s women still in the top spot with nice margin



February 28, 2012



NEW ORLEANS – Call it a stroke of odd timing, but despite winning the SEC title, Arkansas fell from No. 1 to No. 2 in the latest USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings for indoor track & field in Division I. Two-time defending national champions Florida took over the nation’s top spot as their runner-up bid at the SEC meet turned out more arrows for their NCAA-meet quiver. Oregon’s women are still No. 1 despite Stanford’s claim to the MPSF crown.



Arkansas topped Florida in the SEC Championships, 151-137, but the Gators were able to turn out eight season bests among their nationally-ranked marks to push them ahead of the Hogs. Florida returns to No. 1 for the first time since preseason rankings were released on January 10.



Among Florida’s improvements to their season ledger, sprinter Jeff Demps improved his national seed time in the 60 meters with a collegiate-leading 6.54 in the preliminary round. Junior Tony McQuay clocked 46.11 in the 400 meters on the oversized track in that event’s preliminary round. His time was even faster in the final, but he was disqualified after cutting off Georgia’s Torrin Lawrence at the top of the final turn. Junior Omar Craddock is currently the No. 2 seed in the triple jump, senior Kemal Mesic is the nation’s second-best performer in the shot put this season, and senior Gray Horn has the nation’s second-best heptathlon score. The Gators also have additional current top-five seeds by freshman Hugh Graham, Jr. (400 meters), sophomore Sean Obinwa (800 meters), and freshman Marquis Dendy (long jump).



Arkansas won their second indoor SEC title in three years, propelled by a mile, DMR anchor double win by freshman Patrick Rono. Freshman Andrew Irwin also set a new collegiate-leading mark in the pole vault with a mark of 18-1¾ (5.53m).



As it stands now, at the national championships, the possible rematch spots between Arkansas and Florida appear to be in the 400 meters and the heptathlon – key events for both squads in the bid for the NCAA title.



No. 3 Texas A&M won their second-straight indoor Big 12 title in their final appearance in the league. The Aggies join the SEC next year. Junior Ameer Weeb was one of A&M’s four individual champs in the meet. Webb ran a collegiate-leading 20.62 in the 200 meters.



LSU stayed at No. 4 while Arizona went up a spot to No. 5. BYU jumped eight spots to No. 8. The Cougars’ DMR squad ran a NCAA top-seed 9:29.00 on the oversized track in their MPSF Championship debut.



The SEC claims seven squads in the national top 25. The Big 12, Big Ten, and Pac-12 follow with four teams in the top 25.



Oregon’s women are in the top spot once again. The Ducks seemed to take a laid-back approach to the MPSF Championships last weekend, but finished in third place despite holding out some of their top nationally-ranked athletes.



Arkansas moved up two spots to No. 2, their highest ranking of the season, after a good weekend at the SEC Championships where they took third place, behind Florida and LSU. Arkansas senior Kristen Gillespie captured the league’s mile and 3000-meter championship title. Senior Tina Sutej reset her own collegiate record in the pole vault with a clearance of 14-11 (4.55m).



Clemson stayed at No. 3, but dominated the ACC Championships, winning their third-straight league crown. The Tigers took the title, 166-87 over nearest competitor Florida State. Freshman Dezerea Bryant swept the 60 (7.25) and 200 (23.26), improving her season bests in both.



LSU slipped two spots to No. 4 while Big 12 Champs Texas A&M stayed at No. 5. Aggie freshman Kamaria Brown notched a collegiate-leading 200-meter time of 22.86 for the conference crown.



Kansas moved up to No. 6 after recording a collegiate-leading 3:31.36 in the 4x400 relay to close out the Big 12 Championships. In addition, junior Andrea Geubelle recorded a new collegiate-leader in the triple jump with a winning mark of 44-7 (13.59m).



New to the women’s top ten this week is No. 8 California, No. 9 BYU, and No. 10 Washington.



The SEC leads all leagues with six teams in the top 25. The Pac-12 and Big 12 each have five in the mix.



With the exception of the SWAC Conference Championships and IC4A/ECAC Championships, this upcoming weekend for many squads is viewed as a last chance for qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Next week’s rankings will include only those athletes that were declared and accepted into the NCAA Championships.



The 2012 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held in Nampa, Idaho, on March 9-10.



USTFCCCA

NCAA Division I

Men's Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)

2012 Week #6 -- February 28

next ranking: March 6 (pre-NCAA)


Rank
School
Points
Conference
Head Coach (Yr)
Last Week

1
Florida
188.49
SEC
Mike Holloway (10th)
2

2
Arkansas
135.65
SEC
Chris Bucknam (4th)
1

3
Texas A&M
123.78
Big 12
Pat Henry (8th)
3

4
LSU
104.93
SEC
Dennis Shaver (8th)
4

5
Arizona
96.68
Pac-12
Fred Harvey (10th)
6

6
Texas
92.10
Big 12
Bubba Thornton (17th)
5

7
Arizona State
86.48
Pac-12
Greg Kraft (16th)
7

8
BYU
76.03
West Coast
Mark Robison (12th)
16

9
Minnesota
75.76
Big Ten
Steve Plasencia (4th)
8

10
Stanford
73.66
Pac-12
Edrick Floreal (7th)
12

11
Virginia Tech
68.71
ACC
Dave Cianelli (11th)
9

12
Mississippi State
66.90
SEC
Steve Dudley (2nd)
10

13
Indiana
62.14
Big Ten
Ron Helmer (5th)
11

14
Georgia
59.32
SEC
Wayne Norton (13th)
24

15
Kansas State
54.36
Big 12
Cliff Rovelto (20th)
14

16
Florida State
51.62
ACC
Bob Braman (9th)
20

17
Ohio State
44.95
Big Ten
Robert Gary (6th)
13

18
Nebraska
42.95
Big Ten
Gary Pepin (29th)
15

19
Auburn
38.76
SEC
Ralph Spry (15th)
17

20
Oregon
36.73
Pac-12
Vin Lananna (7th)
19

21
Mississippi
36.64
SEC
Joe Walker (28th)
22

22
NC State
35.00
ACC
Rollie Geiger (28th)
37

23
Princeton
34.31
Ivy
Fred Samara (35th)
25

24
Oklahoma
33.50
Big 12
Martin Smith (7th)
21

25
Northern Arizona
31.68
Big Sky
Eric Heins (5th)
23

Dropped out: No. 18 Penn State


Men's Conference Index Top 10

Rank
Conference
Points
Top 25 Teams

1
SEC
649.63
7

2
Big 12
377.92
4

3
Big Ten
355.58
4

4
Pac-12
354.70
4

5
ACC
227.47
3

6
Big East
112.93

7
West Coast
76.03
1

8
Mountain West
67.43

9
Ivy
52.91
1

10
Summit League
52.67



USTFCCCA

NCAA Division I

Women's Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)

2012 Week #6 -- February 28

next ranking: March 6 (pre-NCAA)


Rank
School
Points
Conference
Head Coach (Yr)
Last Week

1
Oregon
192.15
Pac-12
Vin Lananna (7th)
1

2
Arkansas
138.55
SEC
Lance Harter (22nd)
4

3
Clemson
136.13
ACC
Lawrence Johnson (4th)
3

4
LSU
127.57
SEC
Dennis Shaver (8th)
2

5
Texas A&M
110.21
Big 12
Pat Henry (8th)
5

6
Kansas
87.43
Big 12
Stanley Redwine (12th)
7

7
Florida
83.28
SEC
Mike Holloway (5th)
6

8
California
76.82
Pac-12
Tony Sandoval (20th)
19

9
BYU
63.94
West Coast
Patrick Shane (2nd)
14

10
Washington
63.82
Pac-12
Greg Metcalf (10th)
23

11
Stanford
57.20
Pac-12
Edrick Floreal (7th)
18

12
Southern Illinois
54.50
Missouri Valley
Connie Price-Smith (11th)
9

13
Arizona
53.98
Pac-12
Fred Harvey (10th)
16

14
UCF
53.29
Conference USA
Caryl Smith Gilbert (5th)
15

15
Iowa State
52.67
Big 12
Corey Ihmels (5th)
13

16
Tennessee
51.63
SEC
J.J. Clark (11th)
8

17
Ohio State
51.16
Big Ten
Karen Dennis (6th)
10

18
Texas
50.61
Big 12
Bev Kearney (20th)
11

19
TCU
44.47
Mountain West
Darryl Anderson (8th)
41

20
Florida State
43.24
ACC
Bob Braman (9th)
21

21
Georgetown
40.40
Big East
Patrick Henner (5th)
20

22
Georgia
40.11
SEC
Wayne Norton (13th)
30

23
Texas Tech
40.11
Big 12
Wes Kittley (13th)
12

24
Wisconsin
39.86
Big Ten
Jim Stintzi (8th)
17

25
Auburn
39.01
SEC
Ralph Spry (15th)
50

Dropped out: No. 22 South Carolina, No. 24 Michigan State, No. 25 UC Santa Barbara


Women's Conference Index Top 10

Rank
Conference
Points
Top 25 Teams

1
SEC
567.51
6

2
Pac-12
477.65
5

3
Big 12
424.90
5

4
ACC
246.84
2

5
Big Ten
214.01
2

6
Missouri Valley
132.16
1

7
Big East
130.00
1

8
Conference USA
108.32
1

9
Mountain West
107.34
1

10
West Coast
64.94
1










---

Tom Lewis

U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association

Communications Manager

1100 Poydras St., Suite 1750

New Orleans, LA 70163

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Email: tom@ustfccca.org

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