Indiana Tech Men & Women Storm to No. 1 in the NAIA’s Regular Season Finale

NEW ORLEANS – The outdoor track & field NAIA National Team Computer Rankings released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) have officially come full circle.

With the final performances of the 2014 regular season in the books, the defending national champion Indiana Tech men and women have both moved to the No. 1 spots in their respective rankings – which is exactly where both began the inaugural edition of the indoor rankings way back in January.

The difference? While the Warriors squads were both significant favorites to begin the indoor season, they both now find themselves locked in heated battles as the NAIA National Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala., loom large on May 22-24.

Wednesday’s rankings utilize the final descending order lists for the 2014 NAIA outdoor track & field season. Next week’s edition will use the championship meet entries – which will be announced this Friday, May 16, by 10 a.m. ET – as its basis.

Qualification for the NAIA Championships will not be determined in any way by these rankings, which are not officially sanctioned or endorsed by the NAIA for the 2014 season. These rankings are supported by the NAIA from the standpoint of media and entertainment purposes only.

Women’s Top Five 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Indiana Tech 598.90 pts British Columbia 577.11 pts Oklahoma Baptist 520.85 pts Doane (Neb.) 411.05 pts Wayland Baptist 269.93 pts View Complete Women’s Rankings

National championship pedigree is on full display at the top of the women’s rankings, with 2013 outdoor and 2014 indoor champion Indiana Tech  surging to the No. 1 position behind a big final weekend past reigning cross country champion British Columbia, which stepped back to No. 2.

Among the 27 scored season-best performances posted by the Warriors were Brianna Wood’s jump to No. 3 at 200 meters and Stacia Murray’s improvement to No. 3 in the triple jump. These two efforts headlined a nearly 108-point improvement for the Warriors, who checked in with a team rankings score of 598.90.

Team rankings points do not equate to NAIA Championships team points scored at the national meet, but rather the number of student-athletes a team has near the top of the descending order list in their resepctive events and how highly they are ranked.

A full explanation of the points system used in the National Team Computer Rankings can be found here.

No. 2 British Columbia posted a 32-point gain of its own, but it wasn’t enough to keep the top spot in the rankings as the Thunderbirds ended up just behind at 577.11 – well within the discussion for the team title.

Also remaining in that discussion was 2014 indoor champion No. 3 Oklahoma Baptist (520.85), which improved more than 58 points from last time.

With the top three teams all making massive gains, something had to give to balance out the point distribution. Both No. 4 Doane (Neb.) (411.05) and No. 5 Wayland Baptist (Texas) (269.93) saw their team scores diminished from last Wednesday. The Tigers fell more than 44 points, while the Pioneers slid nearly 21 points.

Men’s Top Five 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Indiana Tech 497.64 pts Oklahoma Baptist 425.66 pts Wayland Baptist 406.23 pts Concordia (Ore.) 385.80 pts Concordia (Neb.) 320.10 pts View Complete Men’s Rankings

Indiana Tech’s men made a similarly sweeping move to the top after a strong last-chance weekend. In leaping up two positions to No. 1, the Warriors improved their team score by more than 94 points to check in at 497.64.

Driving that gain were 19 season-best scored performances, including the No. 2 and No. 5 showings at 200 meters by Ini-Oluwa Oye and Trevor Stanley, and the No. 5 mark at 100 meters by Harris Edwards III.

Also up two positions was No. 2 Oklahoma Baptist (425.66) after improving its team score by 33 points.

Displaced by Indiana Tech and Oklahoma Baptist were former No. 1 teams in No. 3 Wayland Baptist (Texas) (406.23) and No. 4 Concordia (Ore.) (385.80). Rounding out the top five was No. 5 Concordia (Neb.) (320.10).

Eastern Oregon’s women made the biggest move of the week with a 14-position jump to No. 23, while the Davenport (Mich.) men moved up the farthest in their rankings with a five-spot increase to No. 24.