DI Rankings: Texas A&M, LSU Are Ranked No. 1 Heading to Des Moines

NEW ORLEANS – The NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships will continue next weekend, June 6-9 in Des Moines, Iowa, with 24 left standing in each event, entered as a result of performances from preliminary rounds held this past weekend. The latest USTFCCCA National Team Rankings are based on these entries and show the top teams in the country, Texas A&M’s men and LSU’s women, are still No. 1 after the championships’ opening weekend. LSU’s men moved to No. 2 in the rankings from No. 4 while Arizona’s men jumped three spots to No. 6. Kansas’ women remain No. 2 while indoor national champions Oregon climbed two spots to No. 3.

[All rankings corrected from intial release. Rankings corrected 5/29 3:30pm CT]

National Championship Central
NCAA Final Round Entries: MEN | WOMEN
Final Round Championship Entries: Leaders by Team | Leaders by Conference

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

About the Rankings

For more on the rankings and links to guideline and rationale information visit …
http://www.ustfccca.org/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.