Penultimate NJCAA ITF Rankings Shed Light On Postseason

NEW ORLEANS — As we inch closer to the NJCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 3-4 in Pittsburg, Kansas, the National Team Computer Rankings continue to take shape.

In fact, there will only be one more set of rankings for the indoor season — which come out next Wednesday — before the dust is settled at Pittsburg State University.

QUICK LINKS: Men’s Rankings | Women’s Rankings

What we have here, however, are the most recent men’s and women’s rankings released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Not much changed in the men’s top-5 outside of Butler (Kan.) CC and Barton (Kan.) CC switching spots. The former went from No. 5 to No. 4, while the latter went from No. 4 to No. 5.

The top-3 teams in the men’s rankings are No. 1 Iowa Central CC, No. 2 South Plains (Texas) and No. 3 Cloud County (Kan.) CC. The Tritons and Texans both lost ground while the Thunderbirds gained on both with a 23.43-point jump. Cloud County was helped by Rajindra Campbell (shot put) and Stephen Marindich (600 meters), who both rose to the No. 1 spot of their respective event.

Once you get down to No. 8 through No. 25, you see a bunch of changes. Only one team remained in place from Week 4. We’ll highlight some of the bigger jumps.

Western Texas and Central Arizona climbed into the top-10 at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively.

Cowley County (Kan.) CC and Allen (Kan.) CC both gained four spots from Week 4 and jumped to No. 13 and No. 14, respectively.

Over in the women’s rankings, New Mexico JC is still No. 1 and improved upon its ranking by 11.38 points. If the Thunderbirds are No. 1 at the end of next week’s pre-championship rankings, they’d tie the latest they’ve been ranked No. 1.

South Plains (Texas) leapfrogged Iowa Central CC for 2nd. The Texans now have top-5 ranked women in the 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, mile, 5000, both relays and several of the field events.

One of the biggest moves of the week belonged to Western Texas as it went from No. 11 to No. 6. That was aided by Abigail Kwarteng’s 2nd-ranked mark in the high jump.

Jumps of three or more spots also belonged to Central Arizona (No. 12 to No. 9), Cowley County (Kan.) CC (No. 17 to No. 14) and Johnson County (Kan.) CC (No. 33 to No. 25).

Be sure to check back next week as we preview the 2017 NJCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships with the Week 6 rankings!