2017 NCAA DI Women’s Outdoor Team Rankings – Week 4

NOTE: Only USTFCCCA member programs are eligible for rankings. Please check your membership status HERE.

NEW ORLEANS — There’s a new sheriff in town.

Texas A&M’s women’s squad shot to the top of the NCAA Division I Women’s Outdoor Team Rankings – released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday – knocking Oregon off the throne for the 1st time this season.

The Ducks slipped to 2nd, while Arkansas also fell one spot to 3rd. LSU, Southern California and Florida  remained in 4th, 5th and 6th, respectively. This week’s rankings mark the 1st time on the year where preseason marks are not factored in the computations. Solely collecting marks set this year was one of the factors that allowed the Aggies to jump 7 spots into 1st.

That wasn’t the only thing going in favor of Texas A&M, though. At the Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco, Texas, this past weekend, the Aggies watched Brenessa Thompson post a win-aided time of 11.15 in the 100 meters, putting her at 8th on the descending order list.

Texas also saw a 2-spot increase in the rankings to 7th, a new season-best for the program. A trio of Longhorn sprinters wreaked havoc at the LSU Alumni Gold meet over the weekend, as Chrisann Gordon posted the top 400 meter mark in NCAA Division I on the year at 50.64. Zola Golden ran a 52.19 in the same event – good for 8th on the descending order list – while Teahna Daniels’ wind-aided 11.18 in the 100 meters ranks 9th on the year.

Alabama jumped 10 spots to come in at a season-best 10th thanks to some strong performances by a pair of jumpers at the War Eagle Invitational. Quanesha Banks notched the top long jump mark in the country this year at 6.72m (22-0¾) while Stacey Destin’s high jump mark of 1.83m (6-0) sits at 8th on the descending order list.

Kentucky (8th) and Georgia (9th) both fell, but remained in the top-10.

More Info NCAA Division I 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

In addition to the shakeup at the top of the list, there were quite a few squads that made significant leaps in the rankings towards the bottom of the top-25.

Four schools made pushes into the top-25 for the 1st time this season in BYU (44th to 18th), Notre Dame (36th to 19th), Arizona State (27th to 21st) and Penn State (45th to 22nd).

At the Virginia Challenge, the Fighting Irish’s Anna Rohrer – who received votes in the most recent Bowerman Watch List – recorded the 5th-fastest time in the 5000 meters on the year with a time of 15:43.07. Teammate Jessica Harris’ time of 2:03.23 in the 800 meters at the meet put her in 8th in NCAA Division I this year.

Arizona State’s Maggie Ewen went off at the Triton Invitational for 2 top-10 NCAA Division I marks. Her toss of 60.17m (197-5) in the discus ranks 2nd this year while her shot put mark of 17.57m (57-7¾) is good for 6th.

The Nittany Lions had a strong showing at the Virginia Invitational to push them into the top-25 for the 1st time since the final week of the 2014 campaign. Rookie Danae Rivers’ time of 2:02.53 in the 800 meters ranks 5th on the season, and teammate Madeline Holmberg’s point total of 5636 in the heptathlon is the 9th-best in the country on the season.

Kansas State moved up 4 spots to a season-best 11th, just 1 spot ahead of Baylor, who moved from 24th to 12th. Purdue just cracked the top-15 after sitting on the cusp of the top-20 for the first 3 weeks of the season.

The 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be held in Eugene, Oregon, from June 7-10 at Hayward Field. Check back at www.USTFCCCA.org each week throughout the season for updated rankings.

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