Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Preseason NCAA DIII Outdoor National Team Rankings Announced

Preseason NCAA DIII Outdoor National Team Rankings Announced

Courtesy: Dennis Young, USTFCCCA
March 25, 2015   



NEW ORLEANS – The UW-La Crosse men and women have combined to win just one NCAA Division III outdoor track & field team title since 2007. They’re favored to triple that total in 2015, as both La Crosse squads are ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings.
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released the rankings on Wednesday.

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Top 25 | By Team | By Event
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By Rank | By Team | All-Time
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The last three men’s NCAA champions are also the next three teams in the men’s rankings. 2014 outdoor champion Mount Union is No. 2, newly crowned 2015 indoor champ UW-Eau Claire is No. 3, and 2014 cross country winner North Central (Ill.) is No. 4.  UW-Whitewater rounds out the men’s top five.
Whitewater fares a bit better in the women’s rankings, coming at No. 2. The Warhawks are trailed by No. 3 UW-Oshkosh, who finished second at the most recent indoor and outdoor nationals. Three-time defending outdoor champ Wartburg and three-time defending XC champ Johns Hopkins round out the top five in that order.
On paper, both Eagle teams are serious favorites for outdoor national titles after an indoor national meet that saw the men finish second and the women take home the win.  The men are as far ahead of No. 2 Mount Union in terms of team rankings score as Mount Union is ahead of No. 5 Whitewater, while the women have about the same point advantage on No. 2 Whitewater as Whitewater has on No. 10 North Central.

NCAA Division III Computer Rankings Top 5 – Men

1)UW-La Crosse2)Mount Union3)UW-Eau Claire4)North Central5)MIT
UW-La CrosseMount UnionUW-Eau ClaireNorth Central (Ill.)UW-Whitewater
View Complete Men’s Computer Rankings

NCAA Division III Computer Rankings Top 5 – Women

1)UW-La Crosse2)MIT3)MIT4)MIT5)Johns Hopkins
UW-La CrosseUW-WhitewaterUW-OshkoshWartburgJohns Hopkins
View Complete Women’s Computer Rankings
Team rankings scores are determined by assigning more points to those athletes ranked higher in the national individual rankings (which includes the top 2014 marks from returning athletes for the first three weeks in the interest of showing teams’ potential), and fewer down the list. Team scores are the sum of their athletes’ point totals.
Let’s take a closer look at where everyone’s points are coming from.
La Crosse’s men mostly derive their power from depth—they only have one max-points (20) performance on their roster, Grant Havard’s DIII-list-leading mark in the discus, but they have a plethora of double digit marks.  Havard chips in sixteen more with his discus mark, and double indoor national champ Dominique Neloms contributes sixteen from the long jump. Sprinters  Alex Koenen and Ross Denman each contribute sixteen more in their respective events.
Like UWL, Mount Union’s top point contributor is a big-time thrower. Weight throw national record holder and indoor national champ Sean Donnelly gives the Purple Raiders almost exactly a third of their 148.82 points—in fact, if he were his own team, he’d be ranked 21st in Division III.
Mount Union is also helped by stellar long sprints and relays. A year ago, they clinched an outdoor national championship with a scintillating 4×400.
Expect UW-Eau Claire to move up in the rankings as the season progresses. Josh Thorson didn’t produce any stellar marks when running for Minnesota last year, and indoor marks aren’t considered in the outdoor rankings. But he’s been an absolute revelation for the Blugolds at every distance this school year, taking third at cross country nationals and anchoring the winning DMR and taking third in the 3k at indoor nationals.
Similarly, North Central isn’t getting any credit for pole vault phenom Luke Winder, though even if he got the 20 ranking points he’ll eventually end up with as the national leader in the PV, the Cardinals would still be the No. 4 team in DIII.
The La Crosse women are primed for an indoor-outdoor double: they get all of their points from major contributors from last weekend’s title (think Meg Heafy, Jaime Ludwigson, Bria Halama, etc.) plus benefit from the addition of a second sprint relay.
If No. 2 Whitewater is going to unseat their fellow birds of prey, they’ll need near-perfection from Lexie Sondgeroth. Perhaps the best female athlete in DIII track & field starts the 2015 outdoor season with 67.12 rankings points (aka more than every women’s team in DIII except for 11) and the top returning marks in the 200, 400, and long jump.
No. 3 Oshkosh has a Cazzola-sized void in their scoring lineup to fill. They’ll try to do it with a time-tested formula of powerful throws and mid-distance. Past national champs Kylee Verhasselt (mid-d), Jecel Klotz and Melanie Brickner (throws) will be the backbone of the Titans’ team at NCAAs.
The Division III rankings will be released on Wednesdays between now and the Memorial Day weekend national championships at St. Lawrence.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III

Men’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)

2015 Preseason — March 25

next ranking: March 31
RankInstitutionPointsConferenceHead Coach (Yr)2014 FINAL
1UW-La Crosse201.48WIACJosh Buchholtz (7th)2
2Mount Union148.82OACKevin Lucas (5th)1
3UW-Eau Claire132.71WIACChip Schneider (13th)9
4North Central (Ill.)101.93CCIWFrank Gramarosso (5th)3
5UW-Whitewater98.47WIACMike Johnson (6th)13
6Washington (Mo.)91.43UAAJeff Stiles (14th)18
7UW-Oshkosh91.11WIACEamon McKenna (3rd)4
8Augustana (Ill.)88.28CCIWPaul Olsen (46th)5
9MIT82.42NEWMACHalston Taylor (25th)33
10SUNY Oneonta81.85SUNYACAngelo Posillico (2nd)14
11Salisbury75.10CACJim Jones (16th)12
12Greenville74.37SLIACBrian Patton (21st)8
13Wabash67.59NCACClyde Morgan (7th)69
14UW-Stout65.14WIACKyle Steiner (2nd)17
15St. Olaf64.15MIACPhil Lundin (7th)23
16Widener62.36Middle AtlanticVince Touey (28th)33
17Whitworth56.05NorthwestToby Schwarz (19th)9
18Southern Maine55.08Little EastRyan Harkleroad (1st)14
19Central (Iowa)53.72IIACJoe Dunham (7th)53
20Bates53.42NESCACAl Fereshetian (20th)26
21Buffalo State47.21SUNYACEugene Lewis (15th)44
22Williams47.18NESCACDavid Thompson (2nd)33
23Baldwin Wallace43.15OACBill Taraschke (30th)9
24Haverford42.30CentennialTom Donnelly (40th)6
25Wartburg41.10IIACMarcus Newsom (17th)22
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Men’s Conference Index Top 10
RankConferencePointsTop 25 Teams
1WIAC672.685
2OAC236.942
3CCIW232.952
4SUNYAC197.862
5NESCAC164.712
6IIAC157.602
7UAA156.911
8NCAC151.371
9Little East133.541
10SCIAC132.72

Men’s Regional Index Leaders
RegionInstitutionPointsLast Week
Atlantic(starts April 7)0.00
Central(starts April 7)0.00
Great Lakes(starts April 7)0.00
Mideast(starts April 7)0.00
Midwest(starts April 7)0.00
New England(starts April 7)0.00
South/Southeast(starts April 7)0.00
West(starts April 7)0.00
View All Regional Rankings

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III

Women’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)

2015 Preseason — March 25

next ranking: March 31
RankInstitutionPointsConferenceHead Coach (Yr)2014 FINAL
1UW-La Crosse198.25WIACPat Healy (24th)4
2UW-Whitewater139.10WIACMike Johnson (4th)3
3UW-Oshkosh133.77WIACBen Dorsey (3rd)2
4Wartburg98.52IIACMarcus Newsom (17th)1
5Johns Hopkins94.81CentennialBobby Van Allen (16th)23
6George Fox92.39NorthwestJohn Smith (9th)42
7MIT89.30NEWMACHalston Taylor (8th)13
8Baldwin Wallace87.50OACBill Taraschke (30th)51
9Cal Lutheran83.90SCIACMatt Lea (7th)11
10North Central (Ill.)82.21CCIWKari Kluckhohn (12th)18
11Illinois Wesleyan75.09CCIWChris Schumacher (18th)20
12UW-Eau Claire73.46WIACChip Schneider (9th)13
13Rowan61.20NJACDerick “Ringo” Adamson (8th)42
14Mount Union60.82OACKevin Lucas (6th)30
15Washington (Mo.)56.36UAAJeff Stiles (14th)6
16Central (Iowa)55.33IIACJoe Dunham (7th)16
17Westminster (Pa.)55.05PACTim McNeil (8th)42
18St. Lawrence52.40Liberty LeagueKate Curran (7th)8
19Nebraska Wesleyan50.82Great PlainsTed Bulling (28th)69
20Willamette50.41NorthwestMatt McGuirk (11th)NR
21Whitworth49.80NorthwestToby Schwarz (19th)28
22Luther48.60IIACJeffrey Wettach (9th)30
23Carleton47.96MIACDonna Ricks (22nd)8
24St. Thomas (Minn.)44.89MIACJoe Sweeney (35th)5
25UW-Platteville44.50WIACChris Rotzenberg (3rd)42
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Women’s Conference Index Top 10
RankConferencePointsTop 25 Teams
1WIAC651.195
2IIAC250.363
3Northwest Conference216.803
4CCIW203.712
5OAC171.332
6MIAC163.682
7SCIAC161.311
8NEWMAC160.641
9SUNYAC157.16
10NJAC156.991

Women’s Regional Index Leaders
RegionInstitutionPointsLast Week
Atlantic(starts April 7)0.00
Central(starts April 7)0.00
Great Lakes(starts April 7)0.00
Mideast(starts April 7)0.00
Midwest(starts April 7)0.00
New England(starts April 7)0.00
South/Southeast(starts April 7)0.00
West(starts April 7)0.00
View All Regional Rankings


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