Subtle Changes Pepper NCAA DII Women’s ITF Rankings

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NEW ORLEANS — All but two teams from last week’s rankings saw themselves amongst the elite in the NCAA Division II Women’s Team Rankings, released on Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), as movement across the board was scarce with just two weekends remaining before the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Academy of Art (16th) and Simon Fraser (17th) made their first appearances in the top-25 since last year’s preseason poll, while Bellarmine and Shippensburg fell out of the poll. Other than the movement amongst the four aforementioned programs, the other names in this week’s top-25 are returners from a week ago.

Grand Valley State remains in the top spot for the 5th-consecutive week despite seeing just one new provisional mark in the top-25, as Chant’e Roberts ran a 55.99 in the 400 meters. Adams State returned to 2nd place after a one-week hiatus that saw them move to 3rd. The Grizzlies 4 x 400 relay squad posted the 5th-best time in Division II on the season with an altitude and track size converted time of 3:45.15. Flip-flopping with Adams State was Pittsburg State, who finds itself in 3rd for the second time in three rankings, saw an NCAA DII automatic qualifying mark from Jena Black  in the shot put, as the sophomore recorded a throw of 15.60m (51-2 ¼).

Minnesota State (6th) and Minnesota Duluth (9th) gained ground in the top-10, moving up three and one spots, respectively. Cedarville made the program’s first top-10 ranking in school history, coming in at 5th after getting NCAA DII automatic qualifying mark performances from Carsyn Koch and Olivia Esbenshade in the mile, as the duo ran the 3rd-best and 5th-best times in DII this year, respectively, at the Findlay Meet for Everyone last Friday.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes had a strong showing in track and field at the Division II level last weekend. Minnesota State got a pair of stellar performances from some sprinters last weekend at the Minnesota State University – Birdman Open. Altoniece Williams posted the top time in the 60 hurdles in Division II on the year with a time of 8.44. Additionally, Afure Adah ran the 6th-fastest time in the 200 meters on the year with a mark of 24.34. Like their counterparts, Minnesota Duluth earned a pair of top-10 Division II marks over the weekend in Emilee Trost’s 800 meter run (4th in Division II) and the distance medley relay squad’s time of 11:36.91 (5th in Division II).

More Info NCAA Division II Rankings Central
NATIONAL PDFs Top 25 | By Team | By Event Top TFRRS Qualifiers # of Top-10 Athletes by Team Rankings History This Season By Rank | All-Time	REGIONAL PDFs Top 10 | By Team | By Event #EventSquad Rankings Top-16 Summary Full Reports: By Team | By Event

West Texas A&M stayed put at 4th even after NCAA Division II Women’s Athlete of the Week Rellie Kaputin had the weekend she had where she notched the top mark in Division II in both the long jump and triple jump at the Lone Star Track and Field Championships. Western State (7th), U-Mary (8th) and Central Missouri (10th) all dropped within the top-10 from a week ago.

Academy of Art shot to 16th after strong outings from high jumper Hannah Hensley and pentathlete Marion Presigny, both of whom recorded top-5 Division II marks on the season in their respective events at the MINES Joe Davies Classic. Simon Fraser saw four top-10 Division II performances at the GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships to aid in its push to 17th.

Angelo State (14th), Findlay (15th) and Alaska Anchorage (18th) all saw increases in the rankings of at least five spots a week ago. The biggest fall that remained in the top-25 belonged to Southwest Baptist, who dropped 10 spots to 24th.

The 2017 NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 10-11. Be sure to follow www.USTFCCCA.org throughout the season to see how the rankings change between now and then.

Women’s #EventSquad Leaders (Best Foursome in the Country By Event)