UW-La Crosse Men & Women Perched Atop Preseason Division III Indoor T&F National Team Computer Rankings

NEW ORLEANS—The preseason edition of the 2015 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Computer Team Rankings are in, and the top is occupied by a certain northern state that acquitted itself reasonably well at nationals a year ago.

The UW-La Crosse men are tipped to defend their title, while their female counterparts are ranked No. 1 as well.  Ranked second behind the Eagles on the men’s side are conference rivals UW-Eau Claire; if those two schools went 1-2 at nationals, that would be the second straight year the men’s meet played out that way.

UW-Oshkosh is sitting right behind La Crosse in the women’s rankings. The Titans are the defending national champions, as they knocked off UWL in a major upset last March.  Defending that title will be a tall order, as they lose Christy Cazzola—perhaps the most valuable male or female DIII athlete of the past decade.

The first non-WIAC schools in the rankings? Mount Union, the men’s national champions outdoors, is ranked third after finishing fifth indoors a year ago. And the MIT women are sitting at No. 3; that would be the best finish by a New England team since the Engineer women themselves took third in 2011.

UW-Whitewater is ranked No. 4 for both genders. 

The national team rankings are complied by mathematical formulae based on national descending order lists. 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 rankings will include marks from 2014, and the National Team Computer Rankings will continue to do so through the third regular-season edition.

The USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings should not be referred to as a “poll” as no voting occurs during the process.

Let’s take a closer look at the top teams.

Men’s Top Five

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) UW-La Crosse UW-Eau Claire Mount Union UW-Whitewater North Central (Ill.) View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll

While Eau Claire can claim the single most dangerous athlete—sprint superstar Thurgood Dennis, whose return from injury will be one of the biggest storyllines of the season—La Crosse’s depth is simply ridiculous. They earn ranking points (read more about how that works HERE and HERE) in every single event in the program except for the 800 meters.

They have no obvious vulnerability.  That’s nothing new: the Eagles have won 17 of the last 28 indoor national team titles.

Their rivals for the top spot, Eau Claire and Mount Union, have a slightly different roster construction. While the Eagles only have one projected national champion (Dominique Neloms in the long jump), the Blugolds have three (Dennis in the short sprints, plus heptathlete Brandon Zarnoth) and the Raiders have two (the 4×400 and weight thrower Sean Donnelly).

If Dennis falters, Donnelly could be the meet’s most valuable athlete. Though he’s fouled out of the shot put at the last two indoor national meets, he won the shot and hammer outdoors and the weight indoors.

All three squads have elite 4×400 meter relays; the prospect of the championship coming down to the relay is worth salivating over. The last few men’s meets haven’t been particularly close, though.

The two top-five programs we haven’t covered yet are two of the most decorated athletic programs in Division III.  No. 4-ranked UW-Whitewater, despite all of its historic excellence, has never won a men’s or women’s indoor or outdoor national team title.  And the No. 5 North Central (Ill) men took three of their four titles in a dynastic stretch from 2010 to 2012.

Whitewater’s lineup is a time-tested formula: sprints, jumps, and a star distance runner.  The Warhawks have five different sprinters and jumpers who earn ranking points, and Dawson Miller is a threat to double in the 3000 and whichever he chooses out of the mile or 5000.

North Central is better at distance running than any team is at anything else; the only question mark is how many points they can pick up in the sprints and field. With a stable of 400 meter runners returning, and, crucially, another Winder brother sure to contend for vault national titles as a freshman, NCC could threaten to break up the WIAC hegemony.

Women’s Top Five

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 4) UW-La Crosse UW-Oshkosh MIT UW-Whitewater Illinois Wesleyan View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

The men’s and women’s top fives are astonishingly similar this preseason. Replace “Eau Claire” with “UW-Oshkosh”, and women’s teams Nos. 1, 2, and 4 are set.  Mount Union, an eastern powerhouse, is replaced by MIT, an eastern powerhouse, at No. 3.  And the fifth women’s team—Illinois Wesleyan—is from the same conference, the CCIW, as the fifth men’s team.

UW-La Crosse has never won a women’s indoor team title. They were primed to do so a year ago, but their WIAC rivals, Oshkosh, put up an incredibly performance to defend their title. Oshkosh and Wartburg have won nine of the last eleven women’s team titles.

Using ranking points as our metric, La Crosse has by far the best sprints crew and the best field crew in the nation.  The Eagles have seven different female sprinters and seven more unique throwers and jumpers contributing points to their ridiculous rankings total of 211.14; that number more than doubles up every other team in the nation except for Oshkosh, MIT, and Whitewater.

That group includes one of the nation’s most versatile athletes who isn’t an outright multi-eventer. Jaime Ludwigson qualified for four events indoors and outdoors in 2014, winning the 100 hurdles outdoors. Pairing her with the rest of the Eagles’ talented sprint crew (they won all three national championship sprint relays last year) will be hard to beat.

Faced with that task are Oshkosh and MIT.  Though Oshkosh loses a bevy of national titles from Cazzola, the Titans are still projected to win three events.  Mid-D runner Kylee Verhasselt won indoor nationals in the 800 last year and finished second outdoors to you-know-who.  And throwers Jecel Klotz and Melanie Brickner, slotted No. 1 in the shot and weight respectively, look to continue the Titans’s historic dominance of the throws.

MIT has a roster that calls to mind some great North Central men’s teams: awesome distance runners and vaulters and fringe points from a few other events.  Six different Engineer women are contributing points from 800-5k, and their DMR (naturally) was second to Oshkosh a year ago.  At 4.10m outdoors, Cimran Verdi is one of the best vaulters in DIII history. She’s also the defending indoor national champ, and one of four MIT vaulters who pick up points in the rankings.

A year ago at outdoor nationals, Lexie Sondgeroth went from valuable point-scorer to legend. In only her third 400 ever, she won a national title and came within 0.15 of the national record.  She’s the top returner in the 200 and long jump, but having never run a 400 indoors in her life, the rankings don’t account for that. All this is to say: her UW-Whitewater team could be picking up some serious points.

Illinois Wesleyan comes in at No. 5; they’re one of just six schools to have won a national team title in the last twenty years. (The Titans’ 30 points in 2008 are the lowest winning total in DIII history, but they’re not about to give it back) Nia Joiner is the defending champ in the 60 meters, and Allie Boudreau is one of the top pentathletes in DIII.