Extremely Close Women’s NAIA Title Race Headlines Final National Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – Of the three collegiate track & field national championships this weekend, none is projected to have a team title race as close as the NAIA National Championships on May 21-23 in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

The women of No. 1 Wayland Baptist (Texas) and two-time defending national champion Indiana Tech are virtually tied atop the final National Team Computer Rankings released Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), while the two-time defending champion Indiana Tech men are comfortably atop the men’s rankings.

These final rankings only take into account the entries into this weekend’s NAIA Championships, which will be streamed live. Get broadcast information and more details on the meet at the USTFCCCA’s National Championships Central.

In that exceptionally close women’s race, only one point separates Wayland Baptist – looking for its first title since winning back-to-back in 2008 and 2009 – with 480.27 from Indiana Tech at 479.38.

This Indiana Tech squad has some experience with one-point team title races. Last year’s Indiana Tech squad edged out Oklahoma Baptist by just one point, 102-101, after beating the Bison head-to-head in the meet finale 4×400 relay.

A reminder: the National Team Computer Rankings formula does not equate to the NAIA Championships scoring system. A full breakdown of the process can be found here.

Indiana Tech has a substantial advantage over Wayland Baptist in terms of overall Championships entries – 29 to 19 – but Wayland Baptist makes those fewer entries count. Of those 19 entries, nine enter the Championships seeded first, second or third in their respective events – including five top seeds.

Indiana Tech has four top-three-seeded entries into the Championships. The team title battle ultimately boils down to this: Will Wayland Baptist’s top seeds all live up to their billing? Or will Indiana Tech’s phalanx of slightly lower-ranked athletes outperform their seeds?

See the full breakdown of total entries here, and the rundown of top-ranked seeds here.

Rounding out the top five were No. 3 Doane (Neb.) (375.45), No. 4 Concordia (Neb.) (352.87) and No. 5 Oklahoma Baptist (339.07).

The Indiana Tech men are projected by the computers as the heavy favorites. Nearly 100 points separates the Warriors at 423.69 points from No. 2 Oklahoma Baptist at 329.05.

Oklahoma Baptist will have its hands full as it attempts the upset bid over Indiana Tech, as two more teams checked in this week within 25 points of the Bison. No. 3 Concordia (Neb.) (321.44) and No. 4 Wayland Baptist (307.28) are also projected to make a hard charge for top-three team honors.

Concordia (Ore.) (284.15) rounded out the top five.

No team will enter the Championships with more men’s entries than Indiana Tech with 25. Concordia (Neb.) is next on the list with 21.

While would-be usurper Oklahoma Baptist only has 16 entries, they are much like the Wayland Baptist women in that what they lack in quantity they make up for in quality. The Bison have a nation-leading eight entries seeded either first, second or third at NAIAs – including four top seeds. Indiana Tech has five top-three-seeded entries.