Another Change Atop the DI Women’s Team Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – With the Countdown to TrackTown down to just five weeks, the races for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships team titles continue to heat up.

NCAA Division I National Team Rankings Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Texas A&M LSU Florida Southern Cal Oregon View Complete Men’s National Rankings   NCAA Division I National Team Rankings Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Arkansas Southern Cal Florida Texas Kentucky View Complete Women’s National Team Rankings

One week after losing their No. 1 rank, the women of defending indoor team champion Arkansas are back atop the week five National Team Computer Rankings, which were released Monday.

The rankings are designed to project how the NCAA Championships – which will be televised live on the ESPN family of networks from Eugene, Oregon, on June 10-13 – could potentially play out based on 2015 results.

After a strong weekend at Stanford, the Razorbacks (314.22 team ranking points) reclaimed the top spot from now-No. 2 Southern California (296.09). Chrishuna Williams took the national lead at 800 meters in 2:01.61, while Dominique Scott – despite late-race struggles at 5000 meters – checked in at No. 5 on the USTFCCCA lsit in that event.

(Note: As of last week, the USTFCCCA rankings will also take into account preseason marks in the 5000- and 10,000-meter races for the remainder of the season. Scott is ranked No. 4 on the 2015 descending order list on TFRRS. Outside of the combined events, no other event includes preseason marks.)

Southern California leads a chase pack of teams – all of which checked in around the neighborhood of 200 points – that extends all the way down to defending national champion No. 9 Texas A&M.

No. 3 Florida (268.33) remained stationary, followed at No. 4 after a three position jump by Texas (259.80). The Longhorns got big points from Kendall Baisden, though not in her signature event; the 400-meter standout checked in at No. 4 on the 100 meters list. Whether she will contest the event at NCAAs – and consequently how that will affect this rank – is yet to be seen.

The Longhorns’ jump displaced three teams down one spot each: No. 5 Kentucky (241.98), No. 6 Georgia (234.17) and No. 7 Oregon (212.09). Remaining constant from a week ago were No. 8 LSU (200.95) and the defending champ Aggies (189.32).

Speaking of the Aggies, the Texas A&M men (331.61) remain on pace to reclaim their national title from 2013, checking in at No. 1 for the sixth week in a row. The remainder of the top-five remained steady – No. 2 LSU (284.77), No. 3 Florida (265.60), No. 4 Southern California (243.13) and defending outdoor champion/two-time defending indoor champion No. 5 Oregon (238.56) – but each of those teams also moved closer to the top in terms of team scores.

In-state rivals No. 6 Texas (181.46) and No. 7 Texas Tech (172.20) swapped from a week ago, just ahead of a pair of top-10 newcomers in No. 8 Arkansas (168.92) and No. 9 Baylor (139.19). The Razorbacks improved four spots from last time, while the Bears were up two.

Making the biggest moves of the week were the men of No. 24 Oklahoma State (up 33 spots), No. 20 Kansas State (up 25) and No. 25 Stanford (up 22).

The Cardinal led the charge on the women’s side, as Stanford checked in 15 spots higher than a week ago at No. 13. That just edged out No. 22 Iona, which improved 14.

On the regional front, the only new top-ranked teams came courtesy of the men: Illinois in the Midwest and BYU in the Mountain.