UW-Oshkosh Men, UW-La Crosse Women Overtake DIII Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – The WIAC Championship produced two new No. 1 teams in the Division III U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Team Computer Rankings released Wednesday, with the UW-Oshkosh men and UW-La Crosse women taking the top spots.

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Though it was the UW-La Crosse men who claimed the WIAC title in a close battle over rival UW-Oshkosh, it was not enough to prevent the Titans from rising to the top spot. It should be noted that the national rankings are designed to predict team finish in a national championship setting where teams do not have their full complement of student-athletes — as they did at the WIAC Championships — but only the small number of those top performers who qualify.

Just one week ago the UW-Oshkosh women seemed to be the WIAC team with the most momentum after a jump to No. 2 in the rankings. This week it was UW-La Crosse, who won the WIAC team title and leapt 11 spots to the top of the chart for the first time in program history.

The National Team Computer Rankings are a projection of how teams could fare at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. An explanation of the rankings system can be found here.

UW-Oshkosh Men Claim Top Spot

The Titans are back on top after claiming the top spot in the rankings in week three before losing it to indoor champion and rival UW-La Crosse. UW-Oshkosh checked in this week with a DIII-best 218.36 team score after a DIII-best 37.93 net increase.

Much of the increase can be attributed to the strong throws corps, in addition to Corey Wilch’s move from unranked in the 400 hurdles to No. 6. (52.38). A number of Titans made big, top-ten improvements in the shot put in throwers Nick Baatz (No. 5 to No. 3), Nick Grosskopf (17 to 6), Lewis Prior (25 to 7) and Zachary Baehman (16 to 13).

La Crosse was boosted by Isaav Vazquez moving to No. 1 in the long jump (25-2/7.67m) and No. 2 in the triple jump (50-2¾/15.31m), but the Eagles managed to gain 3.69 net points for a team score of 201.71 — just less than 17 points behind Oshkosh.

UW-Eau Claire remained at No. 3, gaining 8.14 net points for a team score of 145.97 behind DIII National Athlete of the Week Thurgood Dennis. Whitworth stayed put at No. 4, dropping 10.28 net points to 122.00. UW-Whitewater moved up one spot to No. 5, sitting at 111.23 after a 3.03 net gain.

UW-La Crosse Women Take Over for Men at No. 1

As the UW-La Crosse men fell from the top spot, the women rose up 11 spots to make sure the program had at least one No. 1 ranking. This is the women’s team’s first time atop the rankings, surpassing a No. 5 ranking in week six last season as the best in their history. The Eagles flew to the top behind a 59.23 net increase to a team score of 128.49 to displace long-time No. 1 Wartburg from the top for the first time since week 5 of the 2011 season. The Knights fell 26.73 points to a 118.54 team score, still less than 10 points behind at No. 2.

The WIAC Championships was a breakout meet for the Eagles, who recorded a whopping 19 season’s best performances, including 10 top-15 performances. Sprinter Maya Vazquez moved into the top 10 in both the short sprints, going from unranked to No. 8 at 100 meters (12.09) and No. 20 to No. 6 at 200 (24.61). Sprinter/hurdler/jumper Jamie Ludwigson made a similar impact in the 200 (13 to 9), the 100 hurdles (31 to 7) and the triple jump(24 to 17).

Illinois College remained steady at No. 3, but dropped 3.35 net points to 95.95 team points. Ramapo finished third at the NJAC Championships, but moved up a spot to No. 4 by virtue of UW-Oshkosh sliding down from second to No. 5 and Wheaton (Mass.) sliding to No. 6.

The mass of teams tightly bunched within 20-25 points of No. 3 continues to grow, as No. 3 Illinois College is separated from No. 14 Cal Lutheran by just over 25 points, with the entire top 10 within 20 points.

Biggest Jump (Men): 21 – No. 19 Buffalo State
Biggest Jump (Women): 11 – No. 1 UW-La Crosse, No. 8 Buffalo State