Two New Teams Shoot Into Top-15 of NCAA Men’s DII Rankings

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NEW ORLEANS — The top two teams in the Men’s National Division II Team Rankings, as released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Tuesday, remained the same, but some new faces reemerged on the scene after a few weeks outside of the top-15.

CSU-Pueblo and Limestone rose to 10th and 12th, respectively, after moving up from 18th and 26th a week ago. In addition to those two squads, Saint Augustine’s, Missouri Southern and Texas A&M-Commerce each made a push towards the top of the polls from last week.

CSU-Pueblo was ranked as high as 3rd during the second week of this season, but fell to the outskirts of the top-20 a week ago. However, the ThunderWolves’ Dante Carter notched the 5th-best time in the mile in Division II on the year at the MINES Joe Davies Classic a weekend ago, running a track and altitude converted time of 4:02.32.

Limestone had an even more successful weekend to propel the program to its highest ranking of all-time. Two athletes in Marshawn Scott in the 60 hurdles and Marquett Simmons Jr. in the 60 meters and 200 meters went on a tear last weekend at the Conference Carolinas Track and Field Championships. Scott posted the top time in the 60 hurdles in Division II on the year with a mark of 7.77, while Simmons Jr. racked up the 3rd-best marks in Division II this season in both of his events, running a 6.73 in the 60 meters and 21.27 in the 200 meters.

Saint Augustine’s returned to 5th for the third time this year despite a relatively quiet weekend, while the Men’s NCAA Division II Athlete of the Week, Vincent Kiprop, helped shoot the Lions of Missouri Southern to a program high-tying 6th place after his time of 13:53.94 in the 5,000 this past weekend made him the 7th-best performer in the event in Division II history.

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

Texas A&M-Commerce returned to the top-10 for the first time since week one of this year, thanks in large part to blistering performances from DeVontae Steele, Gage Bowles and Isaiah McFail at the Lone Star Track and Field Championships last weekend. Each recorded top-10 Division II marks at the meet, with Steele posting the 4th-best triple jump, Bowles notching the 8th-furthest triple jump and 9th-best long jump and McFail running the 7th-fastest 60 meters.

Ashland remained in first place for the 5th-consecutive week, with Nick Hall posting the 8th-best mark in the mile in Division II on the season (4:04.37) and Elijah Talk recording a mark of 18.13m (59-5 ¾) in the shot put for the 3rd-longest mark on the year at the Kent State Tune-Up. Adams State also remained stagnant in the rankings, coming in at 2nd for the 3rd-straight week, thanks in large part to its distance medley team that ran the 5th-fastest time in Division II this year at the Western State Open last weekend.

Tiffin gained ground in the top-5, jumping to 3rd after sitting a spot lower for the last two weeks. Reginald Thomas ran the 2nd-best time in Division II in the 60 meters on the year for the Dragons lst weekend, recording a mark of 6.69, while Marquise Corbett’s mark of 7.64m (25-0 ¾) from last weekend is good for 3rd in Division II.

Other than Limestone, only one new team crept into the top-25 throughout the remainder of the polls in Cal State LA. The Golden Eagles jumped from 27th to 20th after sitting at 25th during the first three weeks of the season. Two sprinters in Ingvar Moseley (60 hurdles) and Khallifah Rosser (200 meters) are responsible for the team’s rise, as the duo posted top-5 times in Division II in their respective events at last weekend’s NAU Tune Up.

Only one other team held its ground in the rest of the rankings from a week ago, as Angelo State remained in 13th place. Spots 14-25 all saw movement, with Shorter (up five spots to 16th), Western Oregon (up two spots to 17th) and American International (up one spot to 24th) as the only teams to gain ground in the polls.

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

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