National Team Races Getting Closer in NJCAA DIII

NEW ORLEANS – There’s less than a month to go before the NJCAA Division III Outdoor Championships – May 7-8 in Westfield, Massachusetts – and the national team races are starting to heat up.

Both the Rowan-Gloucester CC men and the Suffolk County CC women remained atop the week two edition of the National Team Rankings announced Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), but both now find themselves in tight battles.

That’s particularly true of the Suffolk County women, who only just managed to stay ahead of No. 2 Harper College. Suffolk had a strong weekend, gaining 63.67 points behind nine top-10 individual/relay performances to check in at 689.65 points overall.

But that was nothing compared to the 261.86 points Harper added to come in only five back at 684.41. The Hawks turned in 16 event performances that rank top-10 nationally, including nine in the throwing events, alone.

The Rowan-Gloucester women (569.50) held steady at No. 3 and kept pace with the top two teams behind a 116.66-point gain. No. 4 Prince George’s CC moved up two spots behind National Athlete of the Week Coneisha Smith, and defending national champion Mohawk Valley fell three spots to No. 5.

Rowan-Gloucester’s men checked in with 674.04 points to keep a firm hold on the No. 1 spot, but the pack is starting to close in.

Moving up one spot from last time, No. 2 Suffolk County CC (639.82) pulled within 35 points after a weekend highlighted by nine top-10 performances and a 41-point gain. No. 3 Harper (564.53) improved three positions from last week with a 175.49-point boost behind 10 top-10 efforts.

No. 4 Howard CC (554.34) and No. 5 Montgomery-Rockville (464.97) dropped two spots and one spot, respectively, from last Wednesday to round out the top five.

The men of No. 12 Triton and No. 16 Union County (N.J.) both moved up four spots over the weekend for the biggest moves of the weekend.

The three-spot improvement by the No. 2 Harper women tied No. 18 Nassau CC for the largest change of the women’s rankings.

The National Team Computer Rankings are complied by a mathematical formula based on national descending order lists. The purpose and methodology of the rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national team race. Rankings points do not equate with NAIA Championships team points.

A full description of the rankings can be found here.