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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
USTFCCCA NCAA Division I |
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Men’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25) |
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2014 Week #3 — April 22 |
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next ranking: April 29 | |||||
Rank | School | Points | Conference | Head Coach (Yr) | Last Week |
1 | Oregon | 335.91 | Pac-12 | Robert Johnson (2nd) | 2 |
2 | Florida | 319.42 | SEC | Mike Holloway (12th) | 1 |
3 | Texas A&M | 296.33 | SEC | Pat Henry (10th) | 4 |
4 | Arkansas | 275.74 | SEC | Chris Bucknam (6th) | 3 |
5 | Florida State | 195.62 | ACC | Bob Braman (11th) | 5 |
6 | Georgia | 181.05 | SEC | Wayne Norton (15th) | 9 |
7 | Wisconsin | 181.00 | Big Ten | Mick Byrne (1st) | 6 |
8 | LSU | 157.24 | SEC | Dennis Shaver (10th) | 10 |
9 | Alabama | 157.13 | SEC | Dan Waters (3rd) | 7 |
10 | Texas Tech | 153.36 | Big 12 | Wes Kittley (15th) | 8 |
11 | Mississippi | 152.59 | SEC | Brian O’Neal (2nd) | 11 |
12 | Southern California | 151.84 | Pac-12 | Caryl Smith Gilbert (1st) | 14 |
13 | Baylor | 144.23 | Big 12 | Todd Harbour (9th) | 13 |
14 | Nebraska | 135.54 | Big Ten | Gary Pepin (31st) | 12 |
15 | Texas | 126.67 | Big 12 | Mario Sategna (1st) | 16 |
16 | UCLA | 122.02 | Pac-12 | Mike Maynard (5th) | 15 |
17 | BYU | 120.63 | Independent (DI) | Ed Eyestone (1st) | 20 |
18 | Tennessee | 104.30 | SEC | J.J. Clark (5th) | 17 |
19 | Penn State | 103.76 | Big Ten | Beth Alford-Sullivan (8th) | 18 |
20 | Arizona | 97.07 | Pac-12 | Fred Harvey (12th) | 19 |
21 | Mississippi State | 92.27 | SEC | Steve Dudley (4th) | 31 |
22 | Oklahoma State | 88.21 | Big 12 | Dave Smith (6th) | 34 |
23 | Cornell | 82.30 | Ivy | Nathan Taylor (15th) | 21 |
24 | Kentucky | 79.01 | SEC | Edrick Floreal (2nd) | 25 |
25 | California | 76.82 | Pac-12 | Tony Sandoval (22nd) | 23 |
dropped out: No. 22 UTSA, No. 24 Illinois | |||||
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25 |
Men’s Conference Index Top 10 | |||
Rank | Conference | Points | Top 25 Teams |
1 | SEC | 1890.52 | 10 |
2 | Pac-12 | 969.29 | 5 |
3 | Big 12 | 742.43 | 4 |
4 | Big Ten | 689.78 | 3 |
5 | ACC | 596.47 | 1 |
6 | Conference USA | 260.94 | |
7 | Ivy | 187.81 | 1 |
8 | Mountain West | 158.04 | |
9 | American | 142.79 | |
10 | Missouri Valley | 140.21 |
USTFCCCA NCAA Division I |
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Women’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25) |
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2014 Week #3 — April 22 |
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next ranking: April 29 | |||||
Rank | School | Points | Conference | Head Coach (Yr) | Last Week |
1 | Texas A&M | 383.21 | SEC | Pat Henry (10th) | 1 |
2 | Florida | 342.16 | SEC | Mike Holloway (7th) | 2 |
3 | Texas | 336.80 | Big 12 | Mario Sategna (1st) | 3 |
4 | Oregon | 288.96 | Pac-12 | Robert Johnson (2nd) | 4 |
5 | Georgia | 230.06 | SEC | Wayne Norton (15th) | 5 |
6 | Kentucky | 205.89 | SEC | Edrick Floreal (2nd) | 6 |
7 | Southern California | 196.12 | Pac-12 | Caryl Smith Gilbert (1st) | 9 |
8 | LSU | 178.14 | SEC | Dennis Shaver (10th) | 7 |
9 | Arkansas | 169.86 | SEC | Lance Harter (24th) | 8 |
10 | Florida State | 157.11 | ACC | Bob Braman (11th) | 15 |
11 | Arizona | 147.71 | Pac-12 | Fred Harvey (12th) | 10 |
12 | Kansas | 131.84 | Big 12 | Stanley Redwine (14th) | 11 |
13 | UCLA | 108.90 | Pac-12 | Mike Maynard (2nd) | 14 |
14 | San Diego State | 106.50 | Mountain West | Shelia Burrell (5th) | 18 |
15 | Stanford | 103.39 | Pac-12 | Chris Miltenberg (2nd) | 17 |
16 | Penn State | 102.50 | Big Ten | Beth Alford-Sullivan (15th) | 12 |
17 | Texas Tech | 100.71 | Big 12 | Wes Kittley (15th) | 16 |
18 | Baylor | 95.15 | Big 12 | Todd Harbour (9th) | 19 |
19 | Washington | 90.70 | Pac-12 | Greg Metcalf (12th) | 13 |
20 | Arizona State | 87.77 | Pac-12 | Greg Kraft (18th) | 21 |
21 | Oklahoma State | 84.91 | Big 12 | Dave Smith (5th) | 30 |
22 | Notre Dame | 84.00 | ACC | Joe Piane (39th) | 22 |
23 | Missouri | 82.99 | SEC | Brett Halter (4th) | 23 |
24 | Maryland | 82.41 | ACC | Andrew Valmon (11th) | 24 |
25 | Mississippi State | 79.76 | SEC | Steve Dudley (4th) | 32 |
droppped out: No. 20 Providence, No. 25 South Carolina | |||||
View All Teams Beyond the Top 25 |
Women’s Conference Index Top 10 | |||
Rank | Conference | Points | Top 25 Teams |
1 | SEC | 1866.35 | 8 |
2 | Pac-12 | 1090.23 | 7 |
3 | Big 12 | 936.47 | 5 |
4 | ACC | 704.42 | 3 |
5 | Big Ten | 391.96 | 1 |
6 | Mountain West | 223.44 | 1 |
7 | Conference USA | 198.47 | |
8 | American | 185.76 | |
9 | Mid-American | 169.76 | |
10 | Ivy | 156.57 |