Two-Time Defending Champs Florida, Oregon Begin 2012 in No. 1 Position

NEW ORLEANS – Florida’s men and Oregon’s women, both two-time defending NCAA Division I indoor track & field national champions, begin the 2012 season in familiar territory – as the nation’s No. 1 teams. The preseason national team computer rankings as calculated by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) projects the Gators and Ducks as the early paper favorites based largely on performance bests from returners.

PDFs: Top 25 | Full by Team | Event-by-Event
Previous Rankings

Florida won their second-straight NCAA crown in 2011in scoring 52 points at the national championships to home team Texas A&M’s 40. The Gators lost jumpers Will Claye and 2011 Bowerman finalist Christian Taylor to the pro circuit for 2012, but return two-time 60-meter champion Jeff Demps, jumper Omar Craddock, sprinter Tony McQuay, heptathlete Gray Horn, and shot-putter Kemal Mesic among others.

Oregon’s women easily took the 2011 indoor national crown in scoring 67 points to nearest challenger Texas who scored 38. The Ducks return Jordan Hasay for her junior season. Hasay won the mile and 3000 meters at last year’s indoor championships. In addition, Oregon returns collegiate record holder in the pentathlon Brianne Theisen for a senior campaign.

The SEC and Big Ten each have six squads in the preseason top 25 among men’s squads. Five Big 12 teams are in the top 25 on the women’s side, followed by the Pac-12 with four.

The next round of computer rankings will be released on January 24. The 2012 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held in Nampa, Idaho, on March 9-10.

Here’s a look at how the indoor preseason No. 1 teams have fared at the NCAA Championships:

Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings

About the Rankings

For more on the rankings and links to guideline and rationale information visit …
/rankings/division-i-rankings

The purpose and methodology of the national team computer rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national-title race – not as a method to compare teams head-to-head.

The Regional Index is determined using a similar method as national rankings, but on a smaller scale, comparing teams versus others within the same region. The result is a ranking that showcases squads with better all-around team potential — a group makeup critical for conference or similar team-scored events. A team may achieve a better regional ranking than a counterpart that has a better national ranking. Historically, some teams are better national-championship teams than conference-championship teams, having a few elite athletes that score very well in a diverse environment where teams do not have entries in more than a few events. Some teams are better at conference championships or similar team-scored events where they enter, and are competitive, in many of the events.

How a team fares in a national championship, conference championship, or scored meet with only a couple or few teams (like a dual or triangular) can be very different, given the number of events, competition, scoring, and makeup of entries — thus the rationale behind each of the ranking systems. Similar arguments about team makeup and rankings can also be found in swimming & diving and wrestling as their sports also have a similar trichotomy when it comes to team theory.