UW-La Crosse Men & UW-Oshkosh Women Projected as Favorites for Division III Outdoor T&F Titles

NEW ORLEANS – The defending outdoor men’s champion UW-La Crosse men and the UW-Oshkosh women have been projected as the favorites in the national title team race in the final Division III National Team Computer Rankings released Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

With this final edition of the rankings based only on entries into the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships at Ohio Wesleyan on May 22-24, the UWO women put some distance between themselves and No. 2 UW-La Crosse, with two-time defending national outdoor champion Wartburg creeping ever closer at No. 3.

Meanwhile, the UWL men retained a significant margin atop their rankings over new No. 2 UW-Oshkosh.

Since the inception of the USTFCCCA rankings in 2010, three of the four women’s teams ranked No. 1 prior to the NCAA Outdoor Championships – each of the past three, in fact – went on to claim the title, while both of the past two top-ranked men’s teams have done the same.

The UW-Oshkosh women, seeking their first outdoor national team title since 2011, held firm in the rankings with a team score of 196.64, while in-state rival No. 2 UW-La Crosse was not as fortunate. The Eagles dropped more than 19 points from their team score a week ago to check in at 175.25 – just ahead of a hard-charging Wartburg (173.11) at No. 3.

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.

As tight a race as the rankings predict between these three teams, a look at the quantity and quality of each squad’s entries indicates that it may be even closer than projected.

Women’s Top Five 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) UW-Oshkosh 196.64 pts UW-La Crosse 175.25 pts Wartburg 173.11 pts UW-Whitewater 94.99 pts Williams 89.34 pts View Complete Women’s Rankings

Top-ranked UWO does not hold an advantage in total entries: it has 14 to UWL’s 17 but is ahead of Wartburg’s 13. The Titans have fewer entries ranked among the top 10 seeds: they have nine top-10 performers while both Wartburg and UWL have 10.

But what Oshkosh does have is the largest number of entries ranked among the top three seeds with seven, including two No. 1 marks from multiple-time national champion Christy Cazzola and another from discus thrower Breanna Strupp.

Wartburg has six top-three performers while UW-La Crosse has five, with both sporting two top seeds each.

Rounding out the top five were UW-Whitewater (94.99) and Williams (89.34).

Men’s Top Five 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) UW-La Crosse 245.64 pts UW-Oshkosh 140.39 pts Mount Union 119.09 pts North Central (Ill.) 116.46 pts UW-Eau Claire 101.72 pts View Complete Men’s Rankings

The UW-La Crosse men, on the other hand, are the favorites by nearly all of the aforementioned metrics. The Eagles may have dropped 25 points from their team score based only on entries into the championships, but they still checked in at 245.64 – more than 105 points ahead of  No. 2 UW-Oshkosh (140.39).

UWL led all teams with 24 total entries into the meet, well ahead of No. 2 UW-Oshkosh with 15 and double that of No. 3 Mount Union (119.09) with 12.

The Eagles also enter with the advantage in top-10 entries with 18 – more than any other team’s total entries – ahead of UW-Oshkosh’s 10, and in top-three performers with four. Mount Union, No. 5 UW-Eau Claire (101.72) and No. 6 Haverford (85.26) were the other top-10 squads with three top-10 entries.

The only thing lacking for UW-La Crosse? The Eagles do not possess a top seed in any event, though two possess No. 2 seeds. Each of the other top-five programs have one top-seeded entry apiece.

While the UWL men are projected to defend their team title, the battle for positioning behind the Eagles is much tighter. Three teams are within 40 team rankings points behind No. 2 UW-Oshkosh at 140.39, including No. 3 Mount Union (119.09), which moved up two spots in the rankings this week.

Just behind the Raiders are stationary No. 4 North Central (Ill.) (116.46) and No. 5 UW-Eau Claire (101.72), which dropped three positions from last time.