UW-La Crosse and WIAC Continue Stranglehold on Top of DIII Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – UW-La Crosse continues to dominate the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association computer rankings. The USTFCCCA released the NCAA Division III team rankings on Tuesday. For the fourteenth straight week–dating back to 2013–the La Crosse men were ranked No. 1, while the Eagle women lead the poll for the fourth straight week.

The WIAC held the top three spots in both the men’s and women’s rankings. UW-Whitewater went to an all-time high No. 2 in the men’s rankings, trailed by No. 3 UW-Eau Claire, No. 4 North Central (Ill.), and No. 5 Mount Union.

UW-Oshkosh stayed ranked second in the women’s rankings; for the second straight week, the Titans are ahead of No. 3 Whitewater and No. 4 Johns Hopkins.

Three-time defending national champions Wartburg join the women’s top five for the first time this regular season. In their three title runs (and their runner-up season in 2011), the Knights were never ranked lower than third.

Wartburg jumped No. 6 MIT, which stayed ahead of No. 7 Illinois Wesleyan, No. 8 Cal Lutheran, No. 9 George Fox, and No. 10 Baldwin Wallace.

The rest of the men’s top 25 remained the same group of teams, though in a slightly different order.

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

No. 6 UW-Oshkosh and No. 7 Augustana (Ill.) remained in the same spots they were in last week. No. 8 Washington (Mo.) and No. 9 SUNY Oneonta both moved up one place at the expense of No. 10 MIT.

That’s the best ranking in program history for Oneonta. Also hitting high-water marks were No. 14 St. Olaf, No. 23 Messiah, and No. 24 Spalding.

No men’s teams joined the top 25. Two women’s teams did: newly ranked No. 23 Concordia Moorhead shot up from No. 37, and No. 24 SUNY Cortland climbed from twenty-sixth. Moorhead did it with throws: Hillary Birchem launched the second best discus throw in the country, while Cherae Reeves and Olivia Johnson are both in the top five on the descending order list in the shot put. All three posted their marks at St. John’s in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Cortland joined the ranks of the ranked thanks to a solid mid-d double from Kailyn Balzano at Bucknell.

Three men’s and three women’s teams are newly leading their respective regional indices. The newly minted men’s No. 1 teams include SUNY Oneonta in the Atlantic, UW-La Crosse in the Midwest, and, aptly, Central of Iowa in the Centrla. Ithaca (Atlantic), Misericordia (Mideast), and Mount Union (Great Lakes) are freshly crowned regional No. 1 women’s teams.

The DIII rankings will be released on Tuesdays between now and outdoor nationals.