Florida Men, Kansas Women Enter DI Prelims as Favorites in Computer Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – Competition for the top spots in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I National Team Computer Rankings for the both the men and the women has grown tighter following the announcement of declared student-athletes for the NCAA East and West Preliminary Rounds.

The Florida men and Kansas women held on to their top rankings from last week, but both squads’ leads shrunk as teams lower in the rankings made surges toward the top, despite fielding fewer prelims competitors than most of their top-five competition.

Based on Prelims data entry, the computers still favor the Gator men to defend their title, but by a very slim margin over No. 2 Texas A&M and, to a slightly lesser extent, the No. 3 Oregon men. The No. 2 Texas A&M women also positioned themselves in the rankings right behind Kansas, with indoor champion Oregon at No. 3.

The National Team Computer Rankings are a projection of how teams could fare at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. An explanation of the rankings system can be found here.

Florida, Texas A&M, Oregon Tighten Battle for No. 1

The computer projections show Florida with the best chance to take home the NCAA team title for a second straight season, but the Gators lack the depth of some of the other top five teams. The Gators will send 22 student-athletes to Greensboro, N.C., to compete at the East Prelims, compared to SEC outdoor champion Arkansas’ 29 at Greensboro and No. 3 Oregon’s 30 and No. 2 Texas A&M’s 29 at the West Prelims in Austin, Texas.

What the Gators lack in entries in terms of quality they make up in quality, with 13 top-10 nationally ranked competitors including No. 1 Omar Craddock in the triple jump and No. 2 Marquis Dendy in the long jump — also No. 8 in the triple jump.

No. 2 Texas A&M will send the largest contingency of sprinters and hurdles in the country with 13, including three top-four-ranked talents in No. 2 Deon Lendore at 400 meters, No. 3 Ameer Webb at 200 (also No. 8 at 100) and No. 4 Wayne Davis II in the 110 hurdles.

No. 3 Oregon’s strength in numbers will come from its middle distance and distance crews. The Ducks’ eight middle-distance representatives are the most in the country, led by 800 collegiate leader Elijah Greer, and No. 6 Mac Fleet atop a list of six qualifiers at 1500 meters.

Nonetheless, the computers scored Florida at 324.67, barely ahead of Texas A&M at 320.34 and slightly farther clear of Oregon at 296.14. The scoring system does not correlate with the system used to determine the team champion at the NCAA Finals at Oregon in June.

At No. 4, Arkansas will bring the only double-digit jumping corps with 10. Among those 10 are No. 4 Andrew Irwin in the pole vault and Tarik Batchelor at No. in the long jump and No. 11 in the triple jump.

Florida State at No. 5 has the fewest entries of any of the top five teams with 19, with five entries apiece in the sprints/hurdles and the jumps events.

BYU jumped into the rankings at No. 19 with a division-best 14 entries in the distance events at the West Prelims, while Minnesota will field a division-high nine throwers this weekend.

Kansas Remains Atop Close Women’s Race

Just as in the men’s rankings, the team sitting at the top of the chart, Kansas, has fewer entries to the Prelim rounds than do its competitors, but is still favored by the computers. With 22 entries, the Jayhawks will field the fewest student-athletes of any top-six team later this week, but like their counterpart Florida men, Kansas has the advantage of a group of 13 top-10 nationally ranked performers.

The Jayhawks feature a foursome of No. 2-ranked competitors in Diamond Dixon (400), Natalia Bartnovskaya (pole vault), Francine Simpson (long jump) and Andrea Geubelle (triple jump) — three of whom have won NCAA titles in the past in Dixon, Bartnovskaya and Geubelle.

Behind the strength of those entries, the Kansas women checked in with a team score of 332.83, projected as the favorites by the computers slightly ahead of No. 2 Texas A&M at 311.09, No. 3 Oregon at 280.81 and No. 4 LSU at 252.91. Again, the scoring system used by the computers is not the same as that used at the NCAA Finals.

With division-best 30 entries, the No. 4 LSU women are geared up for a run at a title. The Lady Tigers’ sprinting/hurdling corps of 12 is tied for the largest in the country with Texas A&M, led by reigning The Bowerman winner Kimberlyn Duncan at No. 1 at 200 meters and No. 3 at 100 meters.

No. 2 A&M’s sprints group is equally strong with four top-10 entries at 100 meters and a pair of top-10 sprinters at 200 meters. In total the Aggies have 29 entries into the Prelim rounds, second-most of any team in the division.

The Oregon women are slightly ahead of Kansas in terms of Prelims competitors with 23 spread well across all disciplines. The track events give the Ducks their biggest boost behind No. 1 English Gardner at 100 meters and Phyllis Francis at 400 meters, and No. 2 Laura Roesler at 800 meters and Jordan Hasay at 10,000 meters. With the meet likely to go down to the wire as it did with the Ducks’ indoor NCAA title, Oregon has an ace up its sleeve with its 4×400 relay team, ranked No. 1 in the country.

No. 5 Florida and No. 6 Arizona each qualified 26 to their respective Prelims. Arizona’s 11 throws entries is the largest total in the country.

No. 14 Iowa State qualified the largest number of distance runners with 10 — led by 10,000 meters No. 1 Betsy Saina — while No. 13 UCLA qualified a nation-best 10 jumpers. Michigan boasts the largest number of middle-distance competitors with six.

Biggest Jump (Men): 14 – No. 19 BYU
Biggest Jump (Women): 8 – No. 18 Wichita State