UW-La Crosse Teams Still Lead NCAA DIII Rankings After First Month of Season

NEW ORLEANS — Not much has changed through the first month of competition in NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field according to the National Team Computer Rankings.

NCAA Division III National Team Rankings Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) UW-La Crosse UW-Whitewater UW-Eau Claire Monmouth (Ill.) Rowan 159.55 pts 105.73 pts 101.62 pts 89.44 pts 81.02 pts View Complete Men’s National Team Computer Rankings   NCAA Division III National Team Rankings Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) UW-La Crosse Washington (Mo.) Baldwin Wallace Illinois Wesleyan MIT 177.78 pts 121.44 pts 119.37 pts 117.25 pts 106.60 pts View Complete Women’s National Team Computer Rankings

One look at the rankings, released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, reveals that UW-La Crosse still houses both favorites to capture national titles come May 26-28 in Waverly, Iowa. The Eagle men and women are up by more than 50 points on the second-billed teams in the respective rankings.

When it comes to the men’s rankings, UW-La Crosse tallied 159.55 points this go-round. UW-Whitewater, the second-ranked team from the preseason, remained in place and has 105.73 points. Third-ranked UW-Eau Claire (101.62) fell further behind the Eagles and Warhawks, while fourth-ranked Monmouth (Ill.) rounds out the top-5 with upstart Rowan.

Now looking at the women’s rankings, the only change to the top-5 happened when Washington (Mo.) and Baldwin Wallace swapped spots. The Bears slid behind the Eagles after gaining 2.72 points, while the Yellow Jackets slipped to No. 3. Illinois Wesleyan and MIT are still fourth and fifth, respectively.

Points in the National Team Computer Rankings are calculated using descending order lists. The higher an athlete is ranked on the list, the more points he or she provides her team. Since there isn’t enough data from the current season, marks from previous outdoor seasons are included until enough data can be collected from the current season.

Rankings points do not equate with NCAA Championships team points. A full description of the rankings can be found here.

Note: The National Team Computer Rankings should not be referred to as a poll since no voting occurs during the process.

The big story from this version of the National Team Computer Rankings is the rise of the Owls.

Last week Rowan was 13th, closer to falling out of the top-15 (3.82 points) than joining the top-10 (6.30). That all changed this past weekend when the Owls — namely sophomore Jeffrey Jon Tucker — shined at the Oscar Moore Invitational. Already one of the better vertical jumpers in DIII (third in the high jump), Tucker added a horizontal component to his profile with a leap of 7.44m (24-5) in the long jump to move into second on that chart.

This is Rowan’s best ranking in program history, besting its previous best from 2013 (11th).

Over in the women’s rankings, the bigger mover was Denison. The Big Red went from No. 23 to No. 13 — improving on its best ranking in program history (24th, 2014) — after adding 16.30 points to its tally from the previous installment.

Denison’s jump can be attributed to the efforts of sophomores Arlesha Cospy and Hannah Hall. This past weekend, Cospy moved into the top-10 of the discus (45.60m/149-7) while Hall did the same in the high jump (1.70m/5-7).

There were three combined additions to the top-25 — the MIT men (14th), the Linfield men (23rd) and the George Fox women (24th).