Iowa Central Women Ascend to No. 1 in NJCAA DI Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – The South Plains women have won five of the past six NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field national team titles, and were the early-season week one favorites to do so again in last week’s inaugural U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Team Computer Rankings.

The key word in that sentence: “were”.

Overtaking the defending champion Lady Texans for this week’s No. 1 spot was Iowa Central – the one team to upend SPC in the past six seasons with its 2013 title, and last year’s national runner-up. ICC’s title snapped a four-year winning streak for South Plains.

Whether the Tritons will nip another lengthy South Plains title streak in the bud later this spring at the NJCAA Championships May 14-16 in Hutchinson, Kansas, is still very much up in the air. After all, this is just the second set of rankings for the 2015 season and is based solely on marks from this current, young season. A clearer picture will emerge with each passing edition of the rankings as May approaches.

South Plains dropped to No. 2 for the time being, just ahead of a surging Central Arizona at No. 3. The Vaqueros (along with the No. 1 Tritons) surpassed New Mexico JC, which dropped two spots to No. 4. Rounding out the top five was Coffeyville, which made its season debut this past weekend.

Meanwhile on the men’s side, eight-time defending champion South Plains remained comfortably ahead of No. 2 Central Arizona. Central Arizona was also the last team to earn a share of an NJCAA DI national men’s title, sharing the trophy with South Plains in 2007 as the last chapter of its own three-peat from 2005 through 2007.

Like their female teammates, Iowa Central’s men made a strong move toward the top, jumping up three spots to No. 3. Barton County CC – the only other men’s team to win an NJCAA DI title since the organization split into smaller divisions in 1998 – moved up one spot to No. 4, and Mesa CC jumped seven spots to complete the top five.

At the regional level, Barton County’s men took over the top spot in the Central Region and Monroe‘s men debuted atop the Atlantic, while the Central Arizona women took over the West Region from South Plains and Coffeyville debuted atop the Central..