One No. 1 Falls, Another’s Lead Grows In NCAA DIII Dual Meet Rankings
NEW ORLEANS — This much is clear about the NCAA Division III National Team Dual Meet Rankings: There will never be a dull week.
QUICK LINKS: Men’s Rankings | Women’s Rankings
For the second time this season, the Rowan men are No. 1 — but not by much. The Owls jumped George Fox, last week’s top-ranked squad, and own a 0.64-point lead over the Bruins.
Just like last week, however, the Whitworth women don’t feel as much heat since they’re comfortable leaders. The Pirates are up nearly 10 points on newly second-ranked UW-La Crosse.
Taking a look at the rest of the top-5 in the men’s rankings, Bates moved up to No. 3 behind George Fox, followed by Whitworth at No. 4. Rounding out the top-5 is another program in the New England region, Williams.
In the women’s rankings, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps is ranked third, followed by Ithaca. Nebraska Wesleyan is fifth.
The full rankings — including breakdowns by region, conference and head-to-head matchups — can be found on D3Rankings.us.
These rankings, compiled by Carnegie Mellon’s Gary Aldrich and released every Thursday during the season, differ from the USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings in one important respect.
While the USTFCCCA Rankings are designed to forecast how programs might fare at the NCAA Championships, these Team Dual Meet Rankings are indicative of how full teams with two athletes per event would fare in head-to-head competition.
Scores are the sums of all points earned by a team in each event. Only two athletes per team may be considered in each event (and one relay team per event), and an athlete can only be used in up to three events, excluding relays. Points are based on the best marks by those athletes in the current season.
Programs must be a member of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association to be eligible for the rankings. You can check your membership status here.
In addition, a member of that program’s coaching staff has to submit the marks to the rankings.
