Team Races Keep Close as NCAA D-I Moves to Postseason, Texas A&M Again Double No. 1s

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released week eight national computer rankings for NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field on Tuesday. With the fields and start lists set for the NCAA Championships’ preliminary rounds, the road to Des Moines starts Thursday in Eugene, Ore., and Bloomington, Ind. Both sites will host west and east preliminary rounds, respectively. The ultimate goal of those participating this weekend is to claim one of 12 tickets per region, per event for the NCAA’s final rounds to be held in Des Moines, Iowa, June 8-11.

This week’s national team computer rankings are calculated using season-best data from those who declared and were accepted into the NCAA Championships. Late additions to the field due to medical scratches were factored as well.

Team races on both men’s and women’s sides are extremely tight with Texas A&M heading both sets of data. Texas A&M’s men reclaimed the No. 1 spot, only one week after being temporarily unseated by now-No. 2 Florida.

Texas A&M’s men leads the nation with 30 entries into the preliminary rounds while Florida, LSU, and Stanford follow with 29 each. On the women’s side, Texas A&M also leads with 37, followed by Arizona’s 35 and LSU’s 31.

PDFs: Top 25 | Full by Team | Event-by-Event | Week-by-Week
Previous Rankings | Rankings Guidelines & Rationale

NCAA Championships: Championship Central | Entry Leaders by Team | Entry Leaders by Conference
West (Eugene, Ore.) Start Lists: MEN | WOMEN
East (Bloomington, Ind.) Start Lists: MEN | WOMEN

Championships Record Book: MEN | WOMEN
Program of the Year Standings: MEN | WOMEN

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.