2022 NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field Rating Index – Week 6

NEW ORLEANS – Championships Week is upon us!

Here is the newest edition of the NAIA Men’s Indoor Track & Field National Rating Index for the 2022 season, as released on Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Remember that this is a comprehensive look at the current campaign, which means no marks have been used from previous seasons in this tabulation.

NAIA — Men's Indoor Track & Field

This Week's National Top Five

1
Indiana Tech

2
Oklahoma City

3
Grand View (Iowa)

4
Friends (Kan.)

5
Marian (Ind.)

All TFRI Reports

NATIONAL TFRI
PDFs: Team Detail | Event Detail

REGIONAL TFRI
PDFs: Team Summary | Event Summary

CONFERENCE TFRI
PDFs: Team Summary | Event Summary

#EVENTSQUAD
PDFs: Team Summary | Team Detail | Event Detail

Not much has changed at the top as Indiana Tech is still favored to win the national title in Brookings, South Dakota. The Warriors own 14 national top-10 marks, which include nine in the top-10 of their respective events. Indiana Tech will look to score big points in the 60 meters and the 60-meter hurdles, where it has multiple athletes ranked among the top-5 performers.

Oklahoma City jumped two spots from No. 4 to No. 2 and could challenge Indiana Tech for the national title. The Stars have a superstar in the guise of Zouhair Talbi, who isn’t just one of the fastest men in NAIA history, but in collegiate history. Talbi is currently top-ranked in three different events – mile, 3000, 5000 – but don’t count out his teammate Shimales Abebe, who is ranked second in each of those events as well. If Talbi and Abebe live up to their pre-meet billing, that’s 54 points alone from distance events.

Both Grand View (Iowa) and Friends (Kan.) climbed two spots from Week 5 to Week 6 as they peaked for the right time ahead of the NAIA Indoor  Championships. Both the Vikings and the Falcons have eight or more national top-10 performers this season, which should propel them to possible podium finishes come Saturday. Look for big things from Grand View’s relays, while Friends could score double-digit points in the race walk, among other events.

Marian (Ind.) is now ranked No. 5 after a four-spot jump. The Knights might only have five national top-10 performers, but have eight others that are residing just outside of that realm.

Here are the rest of the top-10 teams in Week 6: No. 6 Dordt (Iowa) (down four spots), No. 7 Southeastern (Fla.) (up three spots), No. 8 Indiana Wesleyan (down one spot), No. 9 Grace (Ind.) (down six spots), No. 10 Taylor (Ind.) (up four spots).

The 2022 NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held this weekend at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex in Brookings, South Dakota! Competition gets underway on Thursday!