Week One Division III Outdoor National Team Rankings See Little Movement

NEW ORLEANS – With a light weekend slate of Division III action and a number of teams yet to open up the 2014 outdoor season in earnest, the week one edition of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Team Computer Rankings underwent little change.

Men’s Top Five
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
UW-La Crosse 227.66 pts	UW-Eau Claire 147.86 pts	UW-Oshkosh 139.90 pts	UW-Whitewater 124.48 pts	Whittier 85.97 pts
View Complete Men’s Rankings

Each of the top seven women’s teams and the top four men’s teams remained steady from last week’s preseason rankings, with the UW-La Crosse men and women again topping both genders.

Preseason data is still being used to calculate the rankings, and will continue to be included through week three.

A top-10 shuffle of sorts took place on the men’s side as Whitworth and Mount Union both slid back two positions to No. 7 and No. 8, respectively, while No. 5 Whitter and No. 6 Central (Iowa) both moved up two spots to fill the void.

MIT jumped five spots to No. 9, while Christopher Newport remained steady at No. 10. MIT and No. 22 Widener both improved five spots to mark the week’s best improvement for any top-25 team.

Men’s National Athlete of the Week Chancise Watkins led his La Verne squad to a top-25 breakthrough at No. 25.

The women’s top 10 added No. 8 Washington (Mo.), which improved a women’s top-25 best four positions behind National Athlete of the Week Lucy Cheadle. Dropping down two positions to No. 10 was Williams.

Women’s Top Five
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
UW-La Crosse 169.55 pts	Wartburg 166.84 pts	Rowan 126.31 pts	UW-Oshkosh 116.52 pts	Johns Hopkins 101.45 pts
View Complete Women’s Rankings

Also up four spots on the women’s side was No. 22 Whitworth.

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.