Preseason NCAA DIII Outdoor National Team Rankings Announced

NEW ORLEANS – The UW-La Crosse men and women have combined to win just one NCAA Division III outdoor track & field team title since 2007. They’re favored to triple that total in 2015, as both La Crosse squads are ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings.

The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released the rankings on Wednesday.

The last three men’s NCAA champions are also the next three teams in the men’s rankings. 2014 outdoor champion Mount Union is No. 2, newly crowned 2015 indoor champ UW-Eau Claire is No. 3, and 2014 cross country winner North Central (Ill.) is No. 4.  UW-Whitewater rounds out the men’s top five.

Whitewater fares a bit better in the women’s rankings, coming at No. 2. The Warhawks are trailed by No. 3 UW-Oshkosh, who finished second at the most recent indoor and outdoor nationals. Three-time defending outdoor champ Wartburg and three-time defending XC champ Johns Hopkins round out the top five in that order.

On paper, both Eagle teams are serious favorites for outdoor national titles after an indoor national meet that saw the men finish second and the women take home the win.  The men are as far ahead of No. 2 Mount Union in terms of team rankings score as Mount Union is ahead of No. 5 Whitewater, while the women have about the same point advantage on No. 2 Whitewater as Whitewater has on No. 10 North Central.

NCAA Division III Computer Rankings Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) UW-La Crosse Mount Union UW-Eau Claire North Central (Ill.) UW-Whitewater View Complete Men’s Computer Rankings   NCAA Division III Computer Rankings Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) UW-La Crosse UW-Whitewater UW-Oshkosh Wartburg Johns Hopkins View Complete Women’s Computer Rankings

Team rankings scores are determined by assigning more points to those athletes ranked higher in the national individual rankings (which includes the top 2014 marks from returning athletes for the first three weeks in the interest of showing teams’ potential), and fewer down the list. Team scores are the sum of their athletes’ point totals.

Let’s take a closer look at where everyone’s points are coming from. 

La Crosse’s men mostly derive their power from depth—they only have one max-points (20) performance on their roster, Grant Havard’s DIII-list-leading mark in the discus, but they have a plethora of double digit marks.  Havard chips in sixteen more with his discus mark, and double indoor national champ Dominique Neloms contributes sixteen from the long jump. Sprinters  Alex Koenen and Ross Denman each contribute sixteen more in their respective events.

Like UWL, Mount Union’s top point contributor is a big-time thrower. Weight throw national record holder and indoor national champ Sean Donnelly gives the Purple Raiders almost exactly a third of their 148.82 points—in fact, if he were his own team, he’d be ranked 21st in Division III.

Mount Union is also helped by stellar long sprints and relays. A year ago, they clinched an outdoor national championship with a scintillating 4×400.

Expect UW-Eau Claire to move up in the rankings as the season progresses. Josh Thorson didn’t produce any stellar marks when running for Minnesota last year, and indoor marks aren’t considered in the outdoor rankings. But he’s been an absolute revelation for the Blugolds at every distance this school year, taking third at cross country nationals and anchoring the winning DMR and taking third in the 3k at indoor nationals.

Similarly, North Central isn’t getting any credit for pole vault phenom Luke Winder, though even if he got the 20 ranking points he’ll eventually end up with as the national leader in the PV, the Cardinals would still be the No. 4 team in DIII.

The La Crosse women are primed for an indoor-outdoor double: they get all of their points from major contributors from last weekend’s title (think Meg Heafy, Jaime Ludwigson, Bria Halama, etc.) plus benefit from the addition of a second sprint relay.

If No. 2 Whitewater is going to unseat their fellow birds of prey, they’ll need near-perfection from Lexie Sondgeroth. Perhaps the best female athlete in DIII track & field starts the 2015 outdoor season with 67.12 rankings points (aka more than every women’s team in DIII except for 11) and the top returning marks in the 200, 400, and long jump.

No. 3 Oshkosh has a Cazzola-sized void in their scoring lineup to fill. They’ll try to do it with a time-tested formula of powerful throws and mid-distance. Past national champs Kylee Verhasselt (mid-d), Jecel Klotz and Melanie Brickner (throws) will be the backbone of the Titans’ team at NCAAs.

The Division III rankings will be released on Wednesdays between now and the Memorial Day weekend national championships at St. Lawrence.