Conference Championships Shake Up NCAA DII National Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – Conference championship weekend really did a number on the NCAA Division II Women’s Outdoor Track & Field National Team Rankings, announced Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Every single top-10 squad from a week ago remained inside the top 10, but none of them held steady in their same positions.

That was especially true of new No. 1 Lincoln (Mo.) – the reigning indoor national champions and 2014 outdoor national champions who finished runner-up at this weekend’s MIAA Championships – as the Blue Tigers clawed their way up eight spots from this time last week.

MIAA Champion No. 2 Pittsburg State made it an MIAA 1-2 atop the rankings, followed by last week’s top-ranked Saint Augustine’s women at No. 3. If these rankings hold relatively steady until the NCAA Division II Championships in Bradenton, Florida, on May 26-28, the race at the top will be very tight; Lincoln (170.31 ranking points) and Pittsburg State (168.77) are separated by less than two points in the rankings.

Saint Augustine’s is slightly farther back at 144.79, followed relatively closely by No. 4 Hillsdale (130.55) and No. 5 West Texas A&M (120.58). GLIAC runner-up Hillsdale dropped one spot from last week, while Lone Star Champ WTAMU jumped up two.

The race for the four spots on the team podium could be even more heated than the title race. Less than 15 points separate No. 4 Hillsdale from West Texas A&M, No. 6 Findlay (119.96), No. 7 Johnson C. Smith (119.92), No. 8 Grand Valley State (116.73) and defending national champ No. 9 Central Missouri (116.12).

Findlay was the only gainer in that group, up four spots from last week. JCSU, GVSU and UCM fell three, six and three spots, respectively.

Texas A&M-Kingsville (94.58) fell two positions to round out the top 10.

The three-time defending national champion men of Saint Augustine’s held on to their No. 1 rank with 240.81 points, well ahead of new No. 2 Texas A&M-Kingsville (173.93). The LSC Champ Javelinas took over the second spot from GLIAC Champion No. 3 Grand Valley State (166.20).

Indoor national champion No. 4 Tiffin (134.50) and RMAC Champion No. 5 Adams State (134.23) remained in a tight battle for the fourth podium spot.

CCAA champ No. 6 Chico State (113.49) and No. 7 Central Missouri (103.13) held steady ahead of new No. 8 Ashland, which moved up two spots. Rounding out the top-10 were No. 9 Shippensburg (89.32) and No. 10 Pittsburg State (88.18).

Ship fell one spot, while PSU jumped up seven.

The biggest gain for either gender came from the No. 21 Augustana (S.D.) women, who improved 21 spots from last week.

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 NCAA Championships team points.

A full description of the rankings can be found here.