Oregon Men Land Atop Latest Outdoor T&F Division I National Team Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – For the first time since 2009 the Oregon men have landed atop the Division I National Team Computer Rankings in its week three edition released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

In the final edition of the polls before preseason marks are removed from the calculations in week four, Oregon’s men overtook the reigning national co-champion Florida Gators as part of a top-10 shakeup while the women’s top 10 was, by comparison, largely unchanged.

Behind the year’s second-fastest 5000 meters performance by Trevor Dunbar in 13:32.38, the Duck men saw a nearly 29-point improvement to its team rankings score for a total of 335.91.

Team rankings scores do not mirror the points systems used at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, but rather measure team depth in a national championship setting based on their student-athletes’ positioning on the national descending order lists. A more detailed explanation can be found here.

Oregon was last ranked this highly in week six of the 2009 season after occupying the top spot for three of the five preceding weeks. The Ducks would ultimately finish as runners-up at NCAAs.

By contrast, Florida fell to No. 2 after dropping nearly 13 points from its team rankings score. The Gators are still well within striking distance of Oregon with its 319.42 team rankings score.

Men’s Top Five 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Oregon 335.91 pts Florida 319.42 pts Texas A&M 296.33 pts Arkansas 275.74 pts Florida State 195.62 pts View Complete Men’s Rankings

Also switching spots from last week were defending national co-champion No. 3 Texas A&M (296.33) and No. 4 Arkansas (275.74).

Newly crowned ACC Champion Florida State (195.62) held firm at No. 5.

In fact, FSU was the only stationary team in the top 10 as No. 6 Georgia (181.05) moved up three spots and No. 8 LSU (157.24) improved two, while No. 7 Wisconsin (181.00) dropped one and No. 9 Alabama (157.13) and No. 10 Texas Tech (153.36) both fell two.

Meanwhile in the women’s rankings, stationary was the name of the game as each of the top six teams held firm from a week ago before the inevitable reshuffling awaiting next week with the removal of preseason marks from the rankings formula.

Women’s Top Five 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Texas A&M 383.21 pts Florida 342.16 pts Texas 336.80 pts Oregon 288.96 pts Georgia 230.06 pts View Complete Women’s Rankings

The top four teams did start to congeal a bit more as No. 1 Texas A&M (383.21) and No. 2 Florida (342.16) both came back to the pack while No. 3 Texas (336.80) improved by nearly 17 points and five-time defending indoor champ No. 4 Oregon (288.96) skyrocketed nearly 40 points.

Rounding out the aforementioned top six were No. 5 Georgia (230.06) and No. 6 Kentucky (205.89).

As impressive as Oregon’s team rankings score improvement was, it wasn’t even the best in the top 10. That distinction went to ACC Champion Florida State at No. 10 (157.11) after a nearly 43-point jump led to a five-position increase.

Not far behind was No. 7 Southern California (196.12), which jumped two spots after a nearly 41-point increase.

Rounding out the top 10 were No. 8 LSU (178.14) and No. 9 Arkansas (169.86), both of which were down a spot to make room for Southern California.

Oklahoma State’s men and women both had impressive weekends, as the Cowboys were the week’s biggest top-25 gainer by position with a 12-slot improvement to No. 22 and the No. 21 Cowgirls made the best jump in the women’s top 25 with a nine spot increase.

The purpose and methodology of the rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national team race. Rankings points do not equate with NCAA Championships team points. A full description of the rankings can be found here.

Preseason marks will be included in the rankings calculations through the week three edition.