DII National Rankings Shuffle Post-Conference Championships

NOTE: Lincoln (Mo.) returns to the rankings after a one-week absence. Only USTFCCCA member programs are eligible for the USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings.

NEW ORLEANS – With the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field regular season in the books, a pair of recent national team champions are favored in the latest National Team Computer Rankings announced Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

NCAA Division II National Team Rankings Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Adams State Tiffin GVSU Saint Augustine’s TAMU-Kingsville View Complete Men’s National Coaches’ Poll   NCAA Division II National Team Rankings Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Lincoln (Mo.) Pittsburg St. Hillsdale GVSU Lewis View Complete Women’s National Coaches’ Poll

The defending national indoor champion Adams State men and 2014 national outdoor champion Lincoln (Mo.) women are atop the penultimate edition of the rankings, which aim to predict how teams will fare at the NCAA Championships on March 11-12 in Pittsburg, Kansas.

These rankings take into account the entirety of the regular season, regardless of athletes’ intended events at the NCAA Championships. Next Monday’s pre-Championships rankings will consider only the entries into the NCAA Championships.

Behind ASU (206.66 points) in the men’s rankings were No. 2 Tiffin (176.60) and GLIAC Champion No. 3 Grand Valley State (171.88) – which swapped spots from a week ago – and the stationary duo of CIAA Champion No. 4 Saint Augustine’s (155.43) and No. 5 Texas A&M-Kingsville (106.60).

MIAA Champion Lincoln (Mo.) (176.29 points) returned to the top spot, followed by MIAA rival No. 2 Pittsburg State (147.85). Last week’s chart-topper, Hillsdale (139.68), dropped two spots to No. 3 – a fall mirrored by GLIAC Champion No. 4 Grand Valley State (123.54). GLVC Champ Lewis (104.52) fell one spot to No. 5 to round out the top five.

The ASU men may have only finished third at the RMAC Championships, but the Grizzlies are projected to do much better at a meet like the NCAA Championships. While Adams State proved to be a less complete team this past weekend than winner No. 7 Colorado Mines or runner-up No. 20 Chadron State, no team in the country is as top-heavy as the Grizzlies.

ASU boasts a nation-best seven performers ranked top-three nationally, three more than the four each from No. 3 Grand Valley State and No. 6 Academy of Art. The Grizzlies are tied for the most top-10 ranked performers with 13, a total equaled by No. 3 GVSU.

Tiffin moved up to No. 2 behind sprinter Lamar Hargrove, who is now No. 1 in the nation both at 60 and 200 meters, and is positioning himself for a run at a third-consecutive sweep of the national 60-meter and 200-meter crowns.

The MIAA Champion Lincoln (Mo.) women will hope to top MIAA runner-up No. 2 Pittsburg State again next weekend, again on the Gorilla’s home track. The Blue Tigers took down PSU, 169-147, this past weekend for the league title.

As it currently stands, the Blue Tigers have a narrow advantage over Pitt State in terms of total top-10 ranked athletes, 10-9 – though No. 4 GVSU tops both squads with 12 – but Lincoln has the edge in top-three performers. Seven Blue Tigers are ranked No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 in their respective events, to Pittsburg State’s four.

No. 3 Hillsdale is next behind Lincoln on that list with five, followed by PSU, No. 6 Johnson C. Smith, and RMAC Champion No. 7 New Mexico Highlands.

No top-25 team for either gender moved up farther than did the Northeast-10 Champion No. 16 American International men, who climbed up 22 spots from last time.

The biggest gainer for the women was NSIC Champion No. 13 Minnesota State, which improved eight spots from the previous week.