THE CONNING TOWER by Keith Conning: Dramatic Team Title Races Continue to Take Shape in NCAA DII

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

April 28, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – Two-time defending NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field men’s team champion Saint Augustine’s held on to its position atop the National Team Computer Rankings, marking the first time the top-ranked men’s team has done that since late March.
Given how close the rest of the field is, however, that may not be a trend that lasts long.

NCAA Division II National Team Rankings Top 5 – Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Saint Augustine’s	Ashland	TAMU-Commerce	Minnesota St.	TAMU-Kingsville
View Complete Men’s National Coaches’ Poll

NCAA Division II National Team Rankings Top 5 – Women
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Central Missouri	Grand Valley St.	Saint Augustine’s	NM Highlands	Pittsburg St.
View Complete Women’s National Coaches’ Poll

The reigning champion Falcons checked in with 170.87 team ranking points in the week seven edition released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Tuesday, only barely holding off a surging No. 2 Ashland squad looking to regain the top spot it held earlier this month.
Behind No. 3 hammer thrower Jordan Crayon and Elijha Owens – who moved up to No. 4 in the 110 hurdles to go along with a No. 2 rank in the 400 hurdles – the Eagles improved two positions in the rankings with a team total of 167.13, just over three points back of Saint Augustine’s.
Four more men’s teams remain in a virtual tie for the two remaining projected team podium spots – though of course, anything can happen at the NCAA Division II Championships in Allendale, Michigan, on May 21-23, meaning neither Saint Augustine’s nor Ashland are top-four guarantees.

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No. 3 Texas A&M-Commerce (136.18), No. 4 Minnesota State (135.28), No. 5 Texas A&M-Kingsville (134.89) and reigning indoor T&F and cross country champion No. 6 Adams State (131.91) all remain very much in the hunt for the team title.
In fact, the remainder of the top 10 all checked in with team totals of 99 points or higher, making them contenders for the podium.
The race for the women’s team title is just as deep. In stark contrast to the revolving door of top-ranked men’s teams, Central Missouri remained atop the women’s rankings for the fifth week in a row with 161.86 points – though their cushion over the rest of the field continues to shrink.
Moving up into the No. 2 spot was Grand Valley State with 146.50 points, swapping positions from last week with No. 3 Saint Augustine’s (142.16).
No. 4 New Mexico Highlands (133.61) and No. 5 Pittsburg State (117.49) remained steady to round out the top five.
Like the men’s rankings, teams well beyond the top five remain in firm contention for the team podium. Each of the top 10 teams checked in with 95 points or more; including defending national champion Lincoln (Mo.) with 97.69 at No. 9.
Making the biggest jump of the top 25 this week were the No. 22 New Haven women, who improved 12 spots from a week ago. That narrowly bettered the 10-spot improvement logged by the No. 19 Tarleton State women.
The biggest gainer in the men’s rankings was No. 12 Colorado Mines, which jumped 12 spots from a week ago.
All was mostly quiet at the regional level, with the women of Shippensburg’s move to No. 1 in the Atlantic Region the only changing of the guard this week.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division II
Men’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2015 Week #7 — April 28
next ranking: May 5

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Saint Augustine’s	170.87	CIAA	George Williams (39th)	1
2	Ashland	167.13	GLIAC	Jud Logan (12th)	4
3	Texas A&M-Commerce	136.18	Lone Star	Tom Dibbern (2nd)	3
4	Minnesota State	135.28	NSIC	Jim Dilling (2nd)	2
5	Texas A&M-Kingsville	134.89	Lone Star	Ryan Dall (7th)	7
6	Adams State	131.91	RMAC	Rock Light (2nd)	6
7	Grand Valley State	119.34	GLIAC	Jerry Baltes (16th)	5
8	Findlay	113.03	GLIAC	Marc Arce (27th)	8
9	West Texas A&M	107.01	Lone Star	Darren Flowers (6th)	9
10	Angelo State	103.54	Lone Star	James Reid (16th)	10
11	Pittsburg State	99.02	MIAA	Russ Jewett (27th)	11
12	Colorado Mines	88.78	RMAC	Matt Sparks (2nd)	19
13	Alaska Anchorage	85.90	GNAC	Michael Friess (25th)	15
14	Chico State	85.18	CCAA	Oliver Hanf (3rd)	12
15	Azusa Pacific	82.18	PacWest	Kevin Reid (20th)	14
16	Shippensburg	81.76	PSAC	Dave Osanitsch (10th)	13
17	Southern Indiana	79.13	GLVC	Mike Hillyard (17th)	17
18	Johnson C. Smith	78.28	CIAA	Lennox Graham (8th)	16
19	Missouri Southern	69.70	MIAA	Bryan Schiding (2nd)	21
20	Tiffin	68.52	GLIAC	Jeremy Croy (15th)	18
21	Central Missouri	57.30	MIAA	Kirk Pedersen (19th)/Kip Janvrin (17th)	20
22	Tarleton State	50.52	Lone Star	Patrick Ponder (9th)	25
23	Western Washington	47.83	GNAC	Pee Wee Halsell (28th)	26
24	CSU-Pueblo	47.50	RMAC	Matt Morris (2nd)	23
25	Cal Poly Pomona	47.38	CCAA	Octavious Gillespie-Bennett (3rd)	22
dropped out: No. 24 Lincoln (Mo.)
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Men’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	GLIAC	608.67	4
2	Lone Star	555.80	5
3	MIAA	379.03	3
4	RMAC	372.85	3
5	CIAA	280.95	2
6	CCAA	235.67	2
7	GNAC	201.33	2
8	NSIC	162.19	1
9	PacWest	151.15	1
10	PSAC	106.90	1

Men’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Atlantic	Shippensburg	661.32	1
Central	Pittsburg State	403.13	1
East	Southern Connecticut	580.62	1
Midwest	Grand Valley State	498.15	1
South	Shorter	366.40	1
South Central	Texas A&M-Commerce	537.04	1
Southeast	Mount Olive	563.18	1
West	Chico State	444.48	1
View All Regional Rankings

USTFCCCA NCAA Division II
Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25)
2015 Week #7 — April 28
next ranking: May 5

Rank	Institution	Points	Conference	Head Coach (Yr)	Last Week
1	Central Missouri	161.86	MIAA	Kirk Pedersen (19th)/Kip Janvrin (17th)	1
2	Grand Valley State	146.50	GLIAC	Jerry Baltes (16th)	3
3	Saint Augustine’s	142.16	CIAA	George Williams (39th)	2
4	New Mexico Highlands	133.61	RMAC	Bob DeVries (23rd)	4
5	Pittsburg State	117.49	MIAA	Russ Jewett (29th)	5
6	Ashland	109.39	GLIAC	Jud Logan (12th)	8
7	Azusa Pacific	103.08	PacWest	Preston Grey (3rd)	6
8	West Texas A&M	98.88	Lone Star	Darren Flowers (6th)	7
9	Lincoln (Mo.)	97.69	MIAA	Victor Thomas (14th)	9
10	Hillsdale	95.55	GLIAC	Andrew Towne (4th)	10
11	Adams State	74.94	RMAC	Rock Light (2nd)	11
12	Angelo State	69.85	Lone Star	James Reid (16th)	12
13	Winston-Salem State	66.70	CIAA	Inez Turner (6th)	13
14	Simon Fraser	66.68	GNAC	Brit Townsend (15th)	14
15	Wayne State (Neb.)	62.86	NSIC	Marlon Brink (15th)	16
16	Texas A&M-Kingsville	62.30	Lone Star	Ryan Dall (7th)	15
17	Lewis	59.10	GLVC	Dana Schwarting (10th)	19
18	Winona State	57.62	NSIC	Mason Rebarchek (11th)	17
19	Tarleton State	56.50	Lone Star	Patrick Ponder (9th)	29
20	Western Washington	54.89	GNAC	Pee Wee Halsell (28th)	23
21	Johnson C. Smith	52.85	CIAA	Lennox Graham (8th)	18
22	New Haven	49.91	Northeast-10	Shaunnaya Williams (4th)	34
23	Shorter	49.31	Peach Belt	Scott Byrd (8th)	22
24	Alaska Anchorage	48.38	GNAC	Michael Friess (25th)	21
25	Fort Hays State	46.52	MIAA	Dennis Weber (22nd)	25
dropped out: No. 20 Chico State, No. 24 Humboldt State
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25

Women’s Conference Index Top 10
Rank	Conference	Points	Top 25 Teams
1	MIAA	562.65	4
2	GLIAC	457.22	3
3	RMAC	349.21	2
4	CIAA	324.65	3
5	Lone Star	321.10	4
6	NSIC	276.71	2
7	GNAC	236.58	3
8	GLVC	170.55	1
9	PacWest	140.33	1
10	CCAA	133.56

Women’s Regional Index Leaders
Region	Institution	Points	Last Week
Atlantic	Shippensburg	394.07	2
Central	Central Missouri	383.21	1
East	Southern Connecticut	457.01	1
Midwest	Grand Valley State	537.44	1
South	Nova Southeastern	418.40	1
South Central	West Texas A&M	423.99	1
Southeast	Queens (N.C.)	447.83	1
West	Azusa Pacific	415.50	1
View All Regional Rankings