South Plains Men & Women Enter NJCAA Championships as Favorites

NEW ORLEANS – Will the NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field season end the same way it did indoors this March?

If the final National Team Computer Rankings, released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), hold true, the answer is most likely “yes”.

South Plains, which swept the indoor national team titles this winter, are projected as the heavy favorites to duplicate that feat outdoors this weekend at the NJCAA Outdoor Championships in Hutchinson, Kansas, on May 14-16.

Fans can watch live via Flotrack Pro as the team battles described below unfold.

These final rankings are based solely on each team’s entries into the championships, and all team ranking scores listed throughout the following paragraphs do not align with the scoring system used at NJCAAs. A full description of the scoring system can be found here.

Both the men (786.32 team ranking score) and the women (757.80) find themselves comfortably ahead of their nearest competitors as they attempt to win their ninth and second consecutive team titles, respectively.

The women’s chase pack is shaping up to be the most interesting, with four teams all in the same ballpark looking to pull the upset over South Plains.

Looking to reclaim its 2013 title – a 10 point victory over South Plains to snap the Lady Texans’ four-year winning streak – will be No. 2 Iowa Central CC (573.88).

The Tritons are trailed closely by No. 3 Coffeyville CC (562.26) and No. 4 New Mexico JC (546.05), which swapped spots heading into NJCAAs, as well as No. 5 Central Arizona (520.73). Central Arizona has championship pedigree of its own, having won three in a row from 2006 through 2008.

However, the path any of those four teams will have to travel to upset the Lady Texas is a daunting one, to say the least.

At first glance, South Plains enters the championships with 28 entries with top-10 seeds, compared to 24 for Iowa Central, 21 for Coffeyville and 18 each for New Mexico JC and Central Arizona.

A deeper look at the numbers, however, reveals a much more significant advantage in favor of the Lady Texans. Of those 28 entries, 12 are seeded either No. 1 or No. 2 in their respective events. For perspective, no other team has more than five top or second seeds.

The men’s team race is shaping up to be slightly more tiered up top, but a dogfight for the fourth spot and down in the final standings.

No. 2 Central Arizona checked in at No. 2 with 598.46 team ranking points, followed by No. 3 Iowa Central with 474.64). Central Arizona was the last team other than South Plains to win a title when they both shared the crown in 2007.

From there on, it’s going to be a battle royale between seven more teams separated by fewer than 130 points – in the neighborhood of the distance separating South Plains from Central Arizona from Iowa Central from No. 4 Barton County CC (364.85).

While more than 100 points separate Barton County from Iowa Central, only tenths of a single point separate them from No. 5 Iowa Western CC (364.62). No. 6 Coffeyville (330.53) and No. 7 Western Texas (306.51) also checked in north of 300 points.

Remember how the South Plains women had more of an advantage in top-three-seeded entries than in top-10-seeded entries? Reverse that, and that’s the scenario in which their men’s teammates find themselves.

The Texans have far and away the most top-10-seeded entries with 30; a full 50 percent more than Central Arizona with 20 with an even bigger advantage over Iowa Central’s 18. The next-highest are the 13 shared by Iowa Western and Coffeyville – less than half of South Plains’ total.

However, if anyone has the firepower to upset South Plains for the first time in nearly a decade, it would be Central Arizona.

South Plains also leads the field in entries seeded among the top three in their events with 12, but that’s only narrowly ahead of Central Arizona’s 10. Should Central Arizona’s top-seeded athletes – they have four No. 1 seeds, more than anyone else in the field – perform up to expectations and South Plains falter in some of their events, a legitimate chance of an upset exists.

No other team has more than five top-three athletes – a distinction held by Iowa Central.

With the final National Team Computer Rankings came the final regional rankings. The lone change at the top of any region was the Vincennes men – led by National Athlete of the Week Robert Murphy – dethroning Monroe atop the Atlantic Region.