Saint Augustine’s Men & Lincoln (Mo.) Women Top Preseason DII Indoor National Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – The defending national indoor champion Saint Augustine’s men and the Lincoln (Mo.) women have been deemed preseason favorites for the 2014 NCAA Division II indoor track & field season in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II National Team Computer Rankings released Tuesday.

NCAA Division II National Team Computer Rankings Top 5: Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Saint Augustine’s 233.10pts ’13: 1st	Adams State 217.09pts ’13: 3rd	Ashland 204.97pts ’13: 2nd	GVSU 123.59pts ’13: 4th	TAMU-Kingsville 108.56pts ’13: 8th
View Complete Men’s National Team Computer Rankings

As the defending champions not only indoors but also outdoors, head coach George Williams’ Saint Augustine’s men begin their title defense — looking for their 13th indoor title in program history — as the No. 1 team in the preseason rankings (or the season’s first edition of the rankings) for the third time in the past five seasons.

Lincoln (Mo.)’s women are their gender’s early-season favorite after finishing runners-up at nationals a year ago. The Tigers, coached by Victor Thomas, were last the favorites in the initial edition of the rankings in 2010 before going on to claim their most recent NCAA indoor team title. They have claimed four titles since 2004.

NCAA Division II National Team Computer Rankings Top 5: Women
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Lincoln (Mo.) 237.98pts ’13: 2nd	GVSU 200.39pts ’13: 4th	Adams State 171.08pts ’13: 6th	Ashland 138.38pts ’13: 5th	Johnson C. Smith 91.12pts ’13: 7th
View Complete Women’s National Team Computer Rankings

Defending indoor — and outdoor — women’s national champion Academy of Art will start its quest for a second-straight title at No. 10.

Rounding out the men’s top five were No. 2 Adams State, No. 3 Ashland, No. 4 Grand Valley State and No. 5 Texas A&M-Kingsville.

No. 2 Grand Valley State’s women, indoor champions in 2011 and 2012, start out at No. 2, followed by No. 3 Adams State, No. 4 Ashland and No. 5 Johnson C. Smith to complete the women’s top five.

National Team Computer Rankings will be complied by mathematical formulae based on national descending order lists and data taken from previous seasons. For the preseason ranking  data was taken from previous seasons as well as the current season.

However, only marks from the current season will be used in subsequent rankings.

The purpose and methodology of the rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national team race. Rankings points do not equate with NCAA Championships team points. A full description of the rankings can be found here.

USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings should not be referred to as a “poll” as no voting occurs during the process.

Men’s Preseason Rankings

With a nation-best 10 individual scorers returning — including a pair of defending individual champions — the No. 1 Saint Augustine’s men turned in a rankings score of 233.10 for a gap of just 16 points between themselves and No. 2 Adams State.

The Falcons are led by returning national champions Jermaine Jones at 200 meters and Moussa Dembele in the 60-meter hurdles, along with the nation’s top returner at 400 meters, Josh Edmonds.

Saint Aug’s may have the firepower on their side for a title run, recent history is decidedly against them. Since the current model of the USTFCCCA rankings was instituted for DII in 2010, no team ranked No. 1 in the initial edition has gone on to win the indoor crown, and the last two (Grand Canyon in 2013 and Lincoln (Mo.) in 2012) each finished 10th.

On the two occasions on which the Falcons were the early-season favorites in 2010 and 2011, they finished runners-up and sixth, respectively.

In fact, each of the past four men’s indoor national championship teams have been ranked No. 5 (Grand Canyon, 2012; Abilene Christian, 2011; Adams State, 2010) or lower (Saint Augustine’s No. 6, 2013) in the initial edition of the rankings.

No. 2 Adams State, with 217.09 rankings points, also has two returning individual champions in mile winner Tabor Stevens — also the 2013 cross country champion — and 3000 meters champ Kevin Batt among five returning scorers from its third-place team at the 2013 championships.

The Grizzlies last claimed the title in 2010.

Not far behind at No. 3 was Ashland at 204.97, which also returns five scorers from its 2013 national runner-up team including 800 meters champ Drew Windle. The Eagles have finished runners-up nationally in two of the past three indoor seasons.

No. 4 Grand Valley State, checking in with a rankings score of 123.59, doesn’t return any individual champions, but five Lakers points-scorers from its 2013 fourth-place team are back.

At No. 5 with 108.56 points, Texas A&M is the third men’s team set to return a pair of defending national champions in high jumper Jeron Robinson and pole vaulter Jordan Yamoah among four returners from its eighth-place squad at the 2013 indoor meet.

No. 6 Findlay, No. 7 Minnesota State, No. 8 Southern Connecticut, No. 9 Colorado Mines and No. 10 Academy of Art finish out the top 10. Academy of Art is the fourth team with multiple returning individual national titles in the form of long jump and triple jump titles by Johnny Carter in 2013.

The GLIAC registered as the preseason’s strongest conference with three top-10 teams and five total, with a nation-best six total coming from the MIAA.

Women’s Preseason Rankings

No. 1 Lincoln (Mo.) topped the preseason rankings behind the strength of a nation-best six returning scorers form the 2013 indoor championships, including two-time defending 60 meters champion Latoya King. The Tigers registered a rankings score of 237.98, nearly 40 points ahead of No. 2 Grand Valley State.

Lincoln, which finished runner-up at nationals a year ago, is the preseason favorite for the first time since it last won the title in 2010.

Unlike recent Division II men’s history, women’s teams deemed favorites by the USTFCCCA computers have won three of the past four NCAA indoor titles. Grand Valley State in 2012 and 2011 and Lincoln in 2010 all won as preseason favorites, while defending champion Academy of Art — ranked No. 5 at the beginning of 2013 — is the lone non-favorite to win since the current USTFCCCA rankings began in 2010.

No. 2 Grand Valley State, in addition to having four returning scorers from its fourth-place team at NCAAs in 2013, also returns 2012 pole vault champion Kristen Hixson. The Lakers’ rankings score of 200.39 came courtesy of the deepest list of ranked individuals in the country, with 41 entries on the list of student-athletes in the national top-30 list in their respective events.

A title for GVSU would be its third in the past four seasons.

No. 3 Adams State has five returners from the 2013, led by returning 3000 meters individual champion Alicia Nelson, for a rankings score of 171.08. The Grizzlies finished sixth at the NCAA Championships a year ago, and last won in 2008.

With 138.38 rankings points and four returning scorers from its fifth-place team at last year’s indoor nationals, Ashland came in at No. 4. The Eagles were runners-up at the 2010 championships to Lincoln.

Rounding out the top five was Johnson C. Smith, which finished seventh at NCAAs a year ago. The Golden Bulls registered 91.12 rankings points and return five national scorers from 2013. Included in that total is defending 60-meter hurdles champion and 2012 200 meters champion Danielle Williams. A title for JCS would be its first.

No. 6 Central Missouri, No. 7 Angelo State, No. 8 Sioux Falls, No. 9 Western State and No. 10 Academy of Art complete the top 10.

Notable for No. 9 Western State is high jumper Barbara Szabo, who will be going for her fourth consecutive indoor title in her signature event. She would become the fifth woman and the eighth NCAA student-athlete — regardless of Division — to accomplish the feat indoors, and the third woman and fourth overall from Division II.

The  NSIC is the best-represented conference in the Division with six total teams, but with two of the top four teams and five overall, the GLIAC checked in as the top conference.