2020 NCAA DIII Women’s Indoor Track & Field Rating Index – Week 5
NEW ORLEANS – Welcome to the new normal in the NCAA Division III Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Rating Index, where the only constant is the need for absolute chaos in the rankings.
Nothing remained the same in the top-10 from Week 4 to Week 5 as the National Rating Index played a calculated game of Boggle with the teams.
NCAA Division III — Women's Indoor Track & Field
This Week's National Top Five
1
Ithaca
Ithaca
2
Williams
Williams
3
Chicago
Chicago
4
UW-La Crosse
UW-La Crosse
5
Loras
Loras
All TFRI Reports
Ithaca continued its remarkable rise up the chart as it ranked No. 1 for the first time in program history. The Bombers have leveled the competition with an array of national-leading marks in a number of events. While three-time national leader Parley Hannan gets her share of headlines – and justifiably so – Ithaca has two other national leaders in Katelyn Hutchison (400) and Meghan Matheny (pole vault), not to mention the three other women on the national-leading DMR team with Hannan (Hutchison, Maggie Nickerson and Lindsay Scott).
If you’re wondering about the next six teams, take a look at the Week 4 iteration and follow this pattern: Down one, up one, down one, up one, down one, up one. It might look like an old school video game code, but it’s how the National Rating Index shook out this week.
That means former No. 1 Williams slipped to No. 2, former No. 4 UChicago is up to No. 3, former No. 3 UW-La Crosse is down to No. 4, former No. 6 Loras is up to No. 5, former No. 5 Johns Hopkins is down to No. 6 and former No. 8 Washington (Mo.) is up to No. 7.
UChicago might only have six top-10 marks on the Descending Order List at the moment, but two of them are incredible – historically so. Just this past weekend, Isabel Maletich improved her season best mark in the triple jump to 12.58m (41-3¼), which slots in as the fifth best performance in NCAA DIII history. Don’t forget about Laura Darcey, either, who put up the fourth best pentathlon performance in NCAA DIII history earlier this season.
Loras helped its cause this past weekend at the Spartan Invitational. Terrianna Black cemented her spots as the No. 3 performer on the Descending Order List in the 60, while Gabrielle Noland did the same in the 200. Noland is actually ranked in the top-3 of each of the three sprints. Then Kassie Rosenbum moved up to No. 6 on the Descending Order List in the mile with her effort of 4:58.50.
Carthage made the biggest move in the top-10 as it jumped four spots from No. 12 to No. 8. The Lady Reds are led by Sarah Schmidt and Elizabeth Willis, who are ranked in the top-5 nationally in both the shot put and weight throw. Willis is billed second in each with marks on back-to-back weeks, while Schmidt is fourth and fifth, respectively, with the former coming this past weekend at the UW Oshkosh Titan Challenge.
There was just one new addition the top-25 in Week 5, but it was a big one. Bethel (Minn.) soared 21 spots from No. 41 to No. 20. The most notable performance for the Royals this past weekend was their 4×400 relay team taking over the top time in the nation at 3:51.81.
Be sure to check back next week as the National Rating Index will continue to evolve ahead of the 2020 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships, set to take place on March 13-14 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
