Teams Shuffle In NCAA DIII Men’s ITF Rankings

NOTE: Only USTFCCCA member programs are eligible for rankings. Please check your membership status HERE.

NEW ORLEANS — The Road to the NCAA Division III Men’s Indoor Track & Field team title continues to go through UW-La Crosse, at least according to the most recent National Team Computer Rankings released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

NCAA Division III National Team Rankings Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) UW-La Crosse MIT UW-Whitewater Benedictine (Ill.) UW-Eau Claire 150.22 pts 122.81 pts 91.82 pts 86.35 pts 83.52 pts

For the third consecutive version, the Eagles are atop the rankings. This is the 18th time in the past four years that UW-La Crosse has been the top-ranked team in all the land.

The Eagles actually put a little bit of distance between themselves and No. 2 MIT. UW-La Crosse went up 12.77 points, while the Engineers dropped 8.82 points.

As a refresher, points in the USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings are based on the NCAA Division III Descending Order Lists. The higher an athlete is ranked on the list, the more points he or she provides his or her team. From there, a team’s points are totaled and more points mean a better billing in the top-25.

UW-Whitewater and Benedictine (Ill.) swapped spots. The Warhawks went from No. 4 to No. 3, while the Eagles fell from No. 3 to No. 4. It was a rare case of both teams losing points from the previous week and Benedictine (Ill.) lost more than UW-Whitewater.

UW-Eau Claire is back in the top-5 and Wesley is hot on its heels. The Blugolds moved up from No. 6 to No. 5 and the Wolverines jumped two spots from No. 8 to a program-high No. 6. Both don’t have too many qualifying marks on the Descending Order Lists this season but the former is solid with its distance runners Darin Lau and Nick Petersson, while the latter is hoping Anthony Simpson (No. 1, 200; No. 2, 60) steps up once again.

UW-Platteville is back in the top-10 for the first time since 2013. The Pioneers saw senior star Ian LaMere reel off top 3000-meter time in DIII this season, which put him 2nd on the USTFCCCA Individual Rankings.

Both Williams and Mount Union jumped more than five spots. The Ephs climbed from No. 19 to No. 13 and the Purple Raiders from No. 21 to No. 14.

The biggest jump in the rankings belonged to Johns Hopkins. The Blue Jays flew from No. 41 to No. 17 in the matter of one week and have Andrew Bartnett to thank. The senior totaled 5141 points this past weekend in the heptathlon and is now ranked the No. 1 heptathlete in NCAA DIII.

With six weeks left until the 2017 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships in Naperville, Illinois, time is of the essence for teams to start gearing up for the stretch run. We’ll see how that impacts the rankings going forward.