Florida Men, Texas A&M Women Take Command of DI Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – The defending champion Florida men and the Texas A&M women have moved to the top of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I National Team Computer Rankings following the removal of 2012 marks from the rankings formula.

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The computers have determined that the Gators have been the strongest men’s team so far this season, jumping two spots to No. 1 with the removal of 2012 marks from the equation and leapfrogging No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 3 Arkansas — both down a spot from a week ago.

While the Texas A&M men fell from No. 1 to No. 2, their female teammates did just the opposite, trading spots with Kansas to claim the top spot in the rankings.

The National Team Computer Rankings are a projection of how teams could fare at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. This is the first week that does not feature marks from 2012, except for combined events. An explanation of the rankings system can be found here.

Defending Champs Florida Back on Top

The Gators spent much of the 2012 season on top of the rankings en route to a national title, but this marks their first appearance at the apex of the rankings this outdoor season. With a number of its top student-athletes already having recorded nationally-ranked marks this season, Florida was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the removal of preseason data, gaining 57.75 net points for a total of 352.67.

No. 2 Texas A&M suffered a 17.99 net point loss  to 309.58, while indoor champion Arkansas dropped 20.77 points to 281.86.

Oregon remained at No. 4, but made significant gains toward jumping into the race for the top three spots. Combined with the performances at their close 86-77 dual meet loss to Arkansas, the Ducks jumped up 52.71 net points to a team total of 259.78.

Florida State likewise stayed stationary at No. 5, but gained 30.88 net points to 234.61.

The biggest and most significant beneficiary of the shake-up — in addition to strong performances at the ACC Championships — was Virginia Tech, which more than doubled its team score to jump up 20 spots to No. 8 (158.13 team points).

Other big gainers were No. 12 Iowa (+18 spots), No. 14 Clemson (+24), No. 17 BYU (+20), No. 20 Tennessee (+15) and No. 25 UTEP (+17).

Texas A&M Claims the Top Spot in the Women’s Rankings

The Aggies are back atop the rankings for the first time since Week eight of the 2011 season — right before they won their last national championship. No. 1 is nothing new for the Aggies, who have been the top-ranked team 22 other times prior to this week since 2008. If Texas A&M appears at the top of the rankings again next week, it would mark the fourth season in which it has held the No. 1 spot for consecutive weeks — with the other three resulting in national championships.

Texas A&M jumped 25.5 net points for a 304.95 team score to leap past Kansas, which slid 38.72 team points to 290.49 but is still very much in the hunt for No. 1.

Arizona made a modest 20.3 net point gain, but jumped three spots to No. 3 as a result, just edging out LSU. The Lady Tigers slipped just 4.13 net points to 257.58.

Arkansas is back in the top ten for the first time since this week a season ago, leaping 37.17 net points and five spots with a team score of 222.31.

Indoor champion Oregon took the biggest hit from the removal of preseason marks of any ranked team, sliding four spots after a net loss of 58.55, resulting in a team score of 217.22.

Rankings gains were more modest on the women’s side than on the men’s, with No. 16 Florida State (+14 spots) and No. 24 Kentucky (+17) the only squads to make double-digits jumps in positioning.