New No. 1 Rises In NCAA DIII Men’s ITF Week 4 Rankings

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

NEW ORLEANS — The countdown is on until the start of the 2017 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships in Naperville, Illinois.

We’re less than four weeks away and if the latest National Team Computer Rankings are correct, host North Central (Ill.) should hold the team trophy high above its heads come the end of competition on March 11. That’s because the Cardinals are the No. 1 team in the nation according to the latest 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)
North Central (Ill.)	MIT	Benedictine (Ill.)	UW-Whitewater	UW-La Crosse
View Complete Men’s National Computer Rankings

North Central (Ill.) jumped five spots from No. 6 and is No. 1 for the 19th time in program history — first since Week 4 of 2015, though. If the Cardinals do win the national title, it would put them that much closer to the Triple Crown.

So what propelled North Central (Ill.) ahead? Its distance runners and prized vaulter Luke Winder are a great start, but the 4×400 relay team provided the rocket fuel. The Cardinals’ quartet recently ran the 2nd fastest time in NCAA DIII this season (3:20.84).

MIT remained in 2nd position, but Benedictine (Ill.) moved up from No. 4 to No. 3. The Eagles have several athletes ranked in the top-5 nationally, including Matt Fleming and Roman Hill in the long jump as well as Luther Newburn in the triple jump. That ties a program record mark for Benedictine (Ill.) as it was No. 3 in Week 1.

Former No. 1 UW-La Crosse fell to No. 5 after losing 63.72 points in the rankings. The Eagles were helped by past-season marks until the Week 4 billing, which is the first one where past-season marks are thrown out and currently Descending Order Lists are king.

There are three new teams to the top-10 — No. 7 UW-Oshkosh, No. 8 Tufts and No. 9 Middlebury — and none jumped more spots than the 9th-ranked Panthers.

A major reason why Middlebury went from No. 52 to No. 9 is because of its DMR team. The quartet got the baton around in 9:46.95, which set a new NCAA DIII record. Would you also believe that No. 9 is a ranking record for the Panthers?

Further down in the rankings, six teams jumped more than 10 spots.

SUNY Geneseo went from No. 29 to No. 19.

UW-River Falls went from No. 33 to No. 20.

Bates went from No. 35 to No. 21, its best billing in nearly two years.

Dubuque went from No. 34 to No. 22, its best mark since 2015.

TCNJ went from No. 60 to No. 23, its best mark since Week 7 of 2011.

Ohio Northern went from No. 36 to No. 24, its best rank in program history.

Check back throughout the season to see how much the National Team Computer Rankings change ahead of the 2017 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships in mid-March.