Oklahoma Baptist Men & Indiana Tech Women No. 1 in Inaugural NAIA Outdoor National Team Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – Defending women’s champion Indiana Tech and the Oklahoma Baptist  men are the top-ranked teams in the inaugural edition of the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Based only on performances on the descending order lists from this 2014 outdoor season, the Indiana Tech women are significant favorites over second-ranked British Columbia, while the Oklahoma Baptist men find themselves in a tight battle with No. 2 Concordia (Ore.) and defending national champion No. 3 Indiana Tech.

Qualification for the NAIA Championships will not be determined in any way by these rankings, which are not officially sanctioned or endorsed by the NAIA for the 2014 season. These rankings are supported by the NAIA from the standpoint of media and entertainment purposes only.

Behind the strength of top-ranked triple jumper Darcie Bowie and a nation-best 19 performers ranked in the top 10 nationally – including eight in the top three, twice as many as any other program – the Indiana Tech women’s team rankings score of 609.61 is well clear of No. 2 British Columbia at 402.17.

Women’s Top Five 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Indiana Tech 609.61 pts British Columbia 402.17 pts Oklahoma Baptist 358.59 pts College of Idaho 316.11 pts Baker (Kan.) 303.76 pts View Complete Women’s Rankings

Team rankings points do not equate to NAIA Championships team points scored at the national meet, but rather the number of student-athletes a team has near the top of the descending order list in their resepctive events and how highly they are ranked. A description of how the system works can be found here.

Oklahoma Baptist (358.59), the 2012 national team champion and the two-time reigning indoor champion, came in at No. 3, followed by No. 4 College of Idaho (316.11) and No. 5 Baker (Kan.) (303.76).

Men’s Top Five 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Oklahoma Baptist 445.86 pts Concordia (Ore.) 438.24 pts Indiana Tech 417.96 pts Wayland Baptist 303.37 pts Southern Oregon 267.09 pts View Complete Men’s Rankings

The men’s top three of No. 1 Oklahoma Baptist (445.86), No. 2 Concordia (Ore.) and defending outdoor and reigning indoor national champion No. 3 Indiana Tech (417.96) are exceptionally close.

In terms of total national top-10 student-athletes/relays, Oklahoma Baptist edged out Concordia and Indiana Tech with 16 to 15 and 13, respectively. However, both OBU and Concordia both have seven top-three performers to Indiana Tech’s three.

Of those seven for OBU, four came courtesy of Kenneth Combs, who is No. 1 at 100 and 200 meters, as well as the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles.

The team with the most top-three performers? That would be No. 4 Wayland Baptist (Texas) (303.37) with eight of their ten top-10 entries among the top three.

Southern Oregon (267.09) rounded out the top five.

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. A full description of the rankings can be found here.

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