

2019 NCAA DI Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Rating Index – Week 7
NEW ORLEANS – Conference Championship Weekend brought big changes to the latest edition of the NCAA Division I Women’s Outdoor Track & Field National Rating Index, released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday.
As teams around the country battled for conference titles, it served as a good preview for what could transpire as we head into the heart of the NCAA postseason with the NCAA Division I Preliminary Rounds kicking things off in two weeks.
NCAA Division I — Women's Outdoor Track & Field
This Week's National Top Five





Arkansas
Southern California
Texas A&M
Kentucky
New Mexico
All TFRI Reports
For the fourth consecutive week, Arkansas is the top team in the nation after the group captured the team title at the SEC Championships with an impressive showing over the weekend.
The Razorbacks, who captured yet another Triple Crown, posted 139.5 points for its eighth outdoor title in school history after it already won the indoor and cross country championships earlier this year.
Janeek Brown led the charge for Arkansas as she clocked the fifth-best performance in collegiate history in the 100H with a 12.55. Joining her were individual champions Taylor Werner (5000), Kethlin Campbell (400) and Devin Clark (3000S) along with its first-place 4×400 squad. Brown now tops the nation in the 100H, while Campbell moved into second overall in the 400 ranks. Both relay teams (4×100 and 4×400) also come in as top-four units in the country.
Climbing up one spot to No. 2 was Southern California after a championship of its own at Pac-12 meet, its second in a row.
What helped the improvement in the TFRI was the showings from Pac-12 champions Chanel Brissett (100H) and Kaelin Roberts (400), who are now ranked second and fifth in their events, respectively. Both relay teams also took conference titles as the 4×100 tops the nation and the 4×400 group is now ranked fifth overall. Individual conference titles were also won by Angie Annelus (200), Anna Cockrell (400H) and TeeTee Terry (100).
Dropping a single-spot to No. 3 was Texas A&M after a runner-up finish at the SEC Championships.
The Aggies were led by individual title winner Jazmine Fray who repeated in the 800 after already taking the indoor crown earlier in the year. New marks to the TFRI this week came from Syaira Richardson (now third in the nation in the 400) and the 4×100 and 4×400 teams improved to sixth overall nationally.
Leaping one spot to No. 4 was Kentucky after a strong third-place finish at the SEC Championships. The Wildcats needed just one point for the tie and two points to leapfrog over Texas A&M for second place at the meet.
Kentucky saw standout performances from high jump champion Ellen Ekholm, second-place 100 runner Kianna Gray and 100/200 athlete Abby Steiner (who finished fourth and second in those events overall). Gray (100) and Steiner (200) now rank fourth in the country in their respective event, while the 4×100 unit turned in a third-ranked national showing.
Moving into the top-5 for the first time in program history was New Mexico behind a record-setting run by Weini Kelati at the Mountain West Conference Championships. Kelati posted the 17th best performance over 10,000 meters in collegiate history as she took the top spot at the meet by more than two minutes.
The rest of the top-10 had a ton of movement and was completed in the following order: LSU (up one spot), Oregon (down two), Florida (up two), Texas (up eight) and Florida State (up one). The Longhorns’ eight-spot leap was the best improvement made by a top-25 program this week after the team won the team title at the Big 12 Championships to go with the best mark received by the program since the end of the 2017 season.
The top-10 had four conference champions overall in Arkansas (SEC), Southern California (Pac-12), Texas (Big 12) and Florida State (ACC).
Behind Texas, the largest gains in the top-25 belonged to No. 17 Washington (up six spots), No. 19 UCLA (up five), No. 16 Boise State (up four) and New Mexico (also up four). Twenty-two of the top-25 programs experienced some kind of movement from the week before.
In taking a look at the complete rankings, just seven teams in the entire nation remained in their position from the previous index. The biggest gain this week went to No. 37 Georgia Tech after a 58-spot improvement. Other big jumps were taken by No. 105 Western Kentucky (up 53 spots) and No. 116 Fresno State (up 40).
Remember, the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships are also just around the corner, if you can believe it, as the national meet is set for June 5-8 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.
The next edition of the NCAA DI Women’s National Rating Index will be released on Monday, May 20.