2019 NCAA DI Women’s Indoor Track & Field Rating Index – Preseason
NEW ORLEANS – Last year’s runner-up looks to be the favorite to win this season’s national championship as Arkansas was named the top team in the nation in the preseason edition of the NCAA Division I Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Rating Index, released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Thursday.
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Arkansas took the top spot in the preseason with 149.55 points overall. The second-place finishers from the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships are the early favorite to capture the title this season led by top athletes in Payton Stumbaugh-Chadwick, Lexi Jacobus, Tori Hoggard, Kelsey Herman and Desiree Freier.
Stumbaugh-Chadwick is currently ranked No. 1 in both the pentathlon and 60 hurdles to go with a rank of fifth in the 200. She captured the individual title in the 60 hurdles a year ago. The pole vault trio of Jacobus, Hoggard and Freier are ranked No. 2, 3 and 5 in the event, respectively, while Herman slots in at No. 4 in the pentathlon.
It is the first time the Razorbacks have been the top team in the country since Week 3 of the 2016 season.
Coming in at No. 2 was Florida State with 110.46 points. They will look to be led by Ka’Tia Seymour, Rougui Sow, Cortney Jones and Elenora Omoregie.
Seymour is currently ranked as the second-best athlete in the 200 and 10th in the 60. The now-sophomore finished sixth overall in the 200 at last year’s indoor nationals. Sow comes in at No. 2 in the long jump while Omoregie slots in at No. 4 in the high jump. Sow was an All-American in the event last season. Rounding out their top attack is Jones who is fourth in the 60 hurdles, the same position she finished in last season.
Florida State returned to the rankings for the first time since 2015 along with setting a new best for the program since 2008, the year official ranking data goes back to. The Seminoles came in 26th overall at indoor nationals in 2018.
Next up is No. 3 Texas A&M with 110.11 points. The talented group will be led by short and mid-distance athletes in Jazmine Fray, Sammy Watson, Diamond Spaulding and jumper Lajarvia Brown.
Fray and Watson look to battle it out all season in the 800 as they come in at No. 1 and 2, respectively. Watson took third overall at last year’s indoor nationals in the event while Fray came in fifth. Watson then won the national title at outdoors while Fray came in eighth. Spaulding currently slots in at No. 4 in the 200 while Brown comes in fifth overall in the triple jump. Brown finished seventh in her event a year ago during the indoor season.
It is the best mark received by the program since the Week 1 rankings of 2015. The Aggies finished in a tie for 10th at last year’s indoor nationals.
Slotting in at No. 4 was Southern California with 98.11 points. The talented group will be led by Anna Cockrell, Dior Hall and Ky Westbrook.
Cockrell currently stands as the top athlete in the 60 hurdles to go with being 12th in the 200. She placed second in the 60 hurdles at indoors last year. Hall comes in at third in the 60 hurdles while Westbrook is fourth in the 60.
USC came in seventh overall at the 2018 indoor nationals.
Completing the top-five was No. 5 Oregon with 93.31 points. The Ducks will be led by top performers Jessica Hull, Ruby Stauber and Makenzie Dunmore.
Hull is ranked third in both the mile and 3000. The senior came in third in the 3000 at last year indoor championships and followed that win a national title in the 1500 at outdoors. Stauber is currently ranked fourth in the 800 (finished fifth overall at last season’s indoor championships) while Dunmore is fifth in the 60.
Just behind them to round out the top-10 was No. 6 Florida (83.11 points), No. 7 LSU (80.83), No. 8 Georgia (74.48), No. 9 New Mexico (74.24) and No. 10 Kentucky (67.49). It was a new program best for New Mexico as the school broke into the top-10 for the first time in school history.
The SEC had the most teams in the top-20 with nine programs overall and were followed by the Pac-12 with four, the ACC, Big 12 and Mountain West with two teams apiece and the Big 10 with one program.
The next National Track & Field Rating Index will be released Monday, January 21.
