UW-La Crosse Teams Again Double No. 1 in DIII Computer Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – With two weekends of competition in the books–and many teams having just completed their first outdoor meet–the Week 1 Division III computer rankings were mostly unchanged from the preseason. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released the rankings on Tuesday.

The top twenty-five women’s teams and sixteen men’s teams remained the same from the preseason, with minor changes. UW-La Crosse retained its No. 1 status for both sexes. And Johns Hopkins made the most significant move in both sets of rankings, with the Blue Jay men shooting up from No. 41 to No. 17 and the women making the highest-ranked move to No. 4. MIT joined Hopkins in the women’s top five at No. 5.

Behind La Crosse’s men, there were no top ten changes. The rest of the top-ranked teams were, for the second straight week, No. 2 Mount Union, No. 3 UW-Eau Claire, No. 4 North Central (Ill.), No. 5 UW-Whitewater, No. 6 Washington (Mo.), No. 6 UW-Oshkosh, No. 8 Augustana (Ill.), No. 9 MIT, and No. 10 SUNY Oneonta.

The Hopkins and MIT women each moved up at the expense of now-No. 6 Wartburg and No. 7 George Fox. The rest of the women’s top ten: No. 2 UW-Whitewater, No. 3 UW-Oshkosh, No. 8 Baldwin Wallace, No. 9 Illinois Wesleyan, and No. 10 Cal Lutheran.

Illinois Wesleyan joins the top ten fresh off of a third-place team finish at indoor nationals.

Three teams hit all-time highs in the rankings: the No. 14 Widener men, the Hopkins women (tied for their best), and the No. 16 Westminster (Pa.) women.

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 Johns Hopkins MIT View Complete Women’s Computer Rankings

With regular season data beginning to trickle in, this edition of the rankings saw the debut of the regional team indices. (Here’s your reminder that teams can be ranked in a different order regionally and nationally because the rankings are calculated separately for each region)

Men’s teams leading their respective regions were Rowan in the Atlantic, Saint John’s (Minn.) in the Central, Ohio Northern in the Great Lakes, Salisbury in the Mideast, Washington (Mo.) in the Midwest, Tufts in New England, Emory in the South/Southeast, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the West.

Rowan, Ohio Northern, WashU, Emory, and Claremont were also rated as the top women’s teams in those regions. The No. 1 women’s squads in the other three regions were St. Benedict in the Central, Misericordia in the Mideast, and Middlebury in New England.

The DIII rankings will be released every Tuesday between now and outdoor nationals.