Indiana Tech & Wayland Baptist Remain Atop NAIA Rankings
NEW ORLEANS – With just over five weeks remaining until the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on May 21-23, the contenders for the team titles are beginning to separate themselves from the field.
The week three edition of the National Team Computer Rankings, released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), saw the top three teams in both the men’s and women’s list put some ground between themselves and the rest of the pack.
|
Defending men’s champion Indiana Tech continued to headline their gender’s top 25, while the women of Wayland Baptist (Texas) remained the decisive No. 1 squad in their rankings.
Both of those squads improved their team ranking scores: Indiana Tech by 61.46 points to a total of 419.33 and Wayland Baptist by a more modest 17.3 to 531.18.
The Tech men were among a trio of top-three teams that made big gains, along with No. 2 Oklahoma Baptist (up 54.15 to 382.86) and No. 3 Concordia (Neb.) (up 64.44 to 306.56) – the latter of which made a five-position jump in the rankings from a week ago.
Displaced to No. 4, Concordia (Ore.) leads a chase group of six teams all at 200 points or greater in the rankings. The Cavaliers are virtually tied with No. 5 Wayland Baptist.
Speaking of Wayland Baptist, its women (with 531.18 points) remained nearly 130 clear of No. 2 defending national champion Indiana Tech (403.52).
No. 3 Concordia (Neb.) also registered a slight 11-point improvement to settle in at 365.92 this week.
Rounding out the top five was a swap at positions at Nos. 4 and 5. British Columbia moved up, displacing indoor champion Oklahoma Baptist down a slot.
The women’s rankings were full ovf teams making big moves, including a pair of 23-position moves by Michigan schools Aquinas to No. 10 and Siena Heights to No. 15. The biggest move of all, however, belonged to No. 16 Southern-New Orleans, which improved 71 spots from a week ago.
Headlining the men’s rankings were a 14-spot move by No. 8 Doane (Neb.) and a pair of 13-slot improvements by No. 10 Oklahoma City and No. 15 Tennessee Wesleyan.
USTFCCCA NAIA |
|||||
Men’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25) |
|||||
2015 Week #3 — April 15 |
|||||
| next ranking: April 22 | |||||
| Rank | Institution | Points | Conference | Head Coach (Yr) | Last Week |
| 1 | Indiana Tech | 419.33 | Wolverine-Hoosier | Doug Edgar (6th) | 1 |
| 2 | Oklahoma Baptist | 382.86 | Sooner Athletic | Ford Mastin (19th) | 2 |
| 3 | Concordia (Neb.) | 306.56 | Great Plains | Kregg Einspahr (23rd) | 8 |
| 4 | Concordia (Ore.) | 287.95 | Cascade | Jerret Mantalas (1st) | 3 |
| 5 | Wayland Baptist (Texas) | 287.24 | Sooner Athletic | Rohan Thompson (4th) | 5 |
| 6 | Southern Oregon | 271.49 | Cascade | Grier Gatlin (4th) | 7 |
| 7 | British Columbia | 255.51 | Independent (NAIA) | Marek Jedrzejek (14th) | 4 |
| 8 | Doane (Neb.) | 209.20 | Great Plains | Ed Fye (13th) | 22 |
| 9 | Embry-Riddle (Fla.) | 200.43 | Sun Conference | Michael Rosolino (12th) | 6 |
| 10 | Oklahoma City | 193.44 | Sooner Athletic | Conor Holt (4th) | 23 |
| 11 | Siena Heights (Mich.) | 193.07 | Wolverine-Hoosier | Tim Bauer (31st) | 18 |
| 12 | Wiley (Texas) | 182.64 | Red River | Micah Tirop (2nd) | 9 |
| 13 | Indiana Wesleyan | 163.05 | Crossroads | John Foss (28th) | 17 |
| 14 | Cal State San Marcos | 152.24 | Independent (NAIA) | Steve Scott (16th) | 15 |
| 15 | Tennessee Wesleyan | 148.50 | Appalachian | Shawn Jakubowski (3rd) | 28 |
| 16 | Carroll (Mont.) | 143.97 | Frontier | Harry Clark (2nd) | 12 |
| 17 | Westmont (Calif.) | 143.34 | Golden State | Russell Smelley (36th) | 13 |
| 18 | Eastern Oregon | 138.06 | Cascade | Ben Welch (11th) | 14 |
| 19 | Briar Cliff (Iowa) | 136.65 | Great Plains | Nate Treinen (8th) | 16 |
| 20 | William Carey (Miss.) | 135.05 | Southern States | Ben Smith (3rd) | 10 |
| 21 | Bethel (Ind.) | 125.46 | Crossroads | Tony Natali (17th) | 33 |
| 22 | Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) | 124.76 | Chicagoland | Michael McDowell (14th) | 11 |
| 23 | Park (Mo.) | 117.41 | American Midwest | Brian Renshaw (23rd) | 21 |
| 24 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 103.54 | Great Plains | Scott Bahrke (3rd) | 35 |
| 25 | SCAD Savannah (Ga.) | 103.26 | Sun Conference | Patrick Reagan (3rd) | 31 |
| dropped out: No. 19 Central Methodist (Mo.), No. 20 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), No. 24 St. Francis (Ill.), No. 25 William Penn (Iowa) | |||||
| View All Teams Beyond the Top 25 | |||||
| Men’s Conference Index Top 10 | |||
| Rank | Conference | Points | Top 25 Teams |
| 1 | Great Plains | 904.57 | 4 |
| 2 | Sooner Athletic | 889.20 | 3 |
| 3 | Cascade | 803.68 | 3 |
| 4 | Wolverine-Hoosier | 679.50 | 2 |
| 5 | Independent (NAIA) | 461.05 | 2 |
| 6 | Sun Conference | 440.09 | 2 |
| 7 | Crossroads | 418.90 | 2 |
| 8 | Red River | 324.72 | 1 |
| 9 | Heart of America | 300.37 | |
| 10 | Golden State | 294.10 | 1 |
USTFCCCA NAIA |
|||||
Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings (Top 25) |
|||||
2015 Week #3 — April 15 |
|||||
| next ranking: April 22 | |||||
| Rank | Institution | Points | Conference | Head Coach (Yr) | Last Week |
| 1 | Wayland Baptist (Texas) | 531.18 | Sooner Athletic | Rohan Thompson (4th) | 1 |
| 2 | Indiana Tech | 403.52 | Wolverine-Hoosier | Doug Edgar (6th) | 2 |
| 3 | Concordia (Neb.) | 365.92 | Great Plains | Kregg Einspahr (23rd) | 3 |
| 4 | British Columbia | 321.59 | Independent (NAIA) | Marek Jedrzejek (14th) | 5 |
| 5 | Oklahoma Baptist | 281.01 | Sooner Athletic | Ford Mastin (19th) | 4 |
| 6 | Westmont (Calif.) | 279.51 | Golden State | Russell Smelley (36th) | 6 |
| 7 | Embry-Riddle (Fla.) | 248.02 | Sun Conference | Michael Rosolino (12th) | 7 |
| 8 | Doane (Neb.) | 217.69 | Great Plains | Ed Fye (13th) | 10 |
| 9 | Cornerstone (Mich.) | 181.55 | Wolverine-Hoosier | Paul Koutz (3rd) | 17 |
| 10 | Aquinas (Mich.) | 173.00 | Wolverine-Hoosier | Dave Wood (19th) | 33 |
| 11 | Concordia (Ore.) | 164.18 | Cascade | Jerret Mantalas (1st) | 8 |
| 12 | Wiley (Texas) | 150.11 | Red River | Micah Tirop (2nd) | 9 |
| 13 | Southwestern (Kan.) | 133.39 | Kansas Collegiate | Mike Kirkland (2nd) | 12 |
| 14 | Missouri Baptist | 123.98 | American Midwest | Patricia Hanna (5th) | 15 |
| 15 | Siena Heights (Mich.) | 123.67 | Wolverine-Hoosier | Kirk Richards (3rd) | 38 |
| 16 | Southern-New Orleans (La.) | 123.39 | Gulf Coast | Yhann Plummer (2nd) | 87 |
| 17 | Indiana Wesleyan | 119.93 | Crossroads | John Foss (28th) | 35 |
| 18 | Cal State San Marcos | 118.00 | Independent (NAIA) | Steve Scott (16th) | 18 |
| 19 | Carroll (Mont.) | 113.76 | Frontier | Harry Clark (2nd) | 11 |
| 20 | The Master’s (Calif.) | 104.52 | Golden State | Zach Schroeder (7th) | 23 |
| 21 | Southern Oregon | 103.58 | Cascade | Grier Gatlin (4th) | 16 |
| 22 | Dordt (Iowa) | 96.63 | Great Plains | Craig Heynen (7th) | 32 |
| 23 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 94.07 | Great Plains | Scott Bahrke (3rd) | 40 |
| 24 | SCAD Savannah (Ga.) | 93.66 | Sun Conference | Patrick Reagan (3rd) | 27 |
| 25 | Hastings (Neb.) | 89.90 | Great Plains | Ryan Mahoney (2nd) | 14 |
| dropped out: No. 13 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), No. 19 Eastern Oregon, No. 20 Northwest Christian (Ore.), No. 21 Baker (Kan.), No. 22 Taylor (Ind.), No. 24 Webber International (Fla.), No. 25 Grand View (Iowa) | |||||
| View All Teams Beyond the Top 25 | |||||
| Women’s Conference Index Top 10 | |||
| Rank | Conference | Points | Top 25 Teams |
| 1 | Great Plains | 977.76 | 5 |
| 2 | Wolverine-Hoosier | 890.87 | 4 |
| 3 | Sooner Athletic | 885.19 | 2 |
| 4 | Cascade | 639.84 | 2 |
| 5 | Golden State | 503.24 | 2 |
| 6 | Sun Conference | 498.67 | 2 |
| 7 | Independent (NAIA) | 444.84 | 2 |
| 8 | Crossroads | 396.45 | 1 |
| 9 | Kansas Collegiate | 307.66 | 1 |
| 10 | Red River | 303.29 | 1 |

