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A Florida Sweep at No. 1 in the Outdoor TandF Division I National Team Rankings - USTFCCCAPublished by
A Florida Sweep at No. 1 in the Outdoor T&F Division I National Team RankingsBy Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA May 6, 2014 NEW ORLEANS – In their first week at No. 1 in the nation, Texas’ women had a strong showing at their home Longhorn Invitational and built on their team score in the outdoor track & field Division I National Team Computer Rankings.
All well and good for the Longhorns but for one thing: Florida was even better on this given weekend. For the third consecutive week, a different women’s team – this time the Florida Gators – occupies the top spot in the Division I National Team Computer Rankings, released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). As the NCAA Championships draw to within five weeks away, the top 10 women’s teams – and to a lesser extent, the men’s teams – continue to jockey for position, headlined by Florida taking over for Texas at No. 1. At No. 1 for the first time since the beginning of the USTFCCCA rankings in 2008, the Gator women joined their male teammates as the top ranked teams in the nation, marking the first time one program has occupied both No. 1 spots since Texas A&M in week eight of the 2011 season. Both A&M squads ultimately ended up winning national titles that year. Behind Cory McGee and Agata Strausa moving to No. 2 and 3 on the 1500 meters qualifying list, respectively, and Ciarra Brewer jumping to No. 2 in the triple jump, Florida improved its team rankings score to 380.68 – a 40-point gain from a week ago.
Texas (368.13), which held a slim two-point lead a week ago, improved 25 points behind Ashley Spencer’s top-ranked 200 meters and No. 2 400 meters performances and The Bowerman Watch List member Morolake Akinosun’s move to No. 3 at 200 meters, but nonetheless dropped to No. 2 in the team rankings. Meanwhile, Oregon (301.38) improved one position to No. 3 despite seeing its team score drop by 15 points. Texas A&M’s (289.43) score fell even harder with a nearly 30-point loss as it fell back into the No. 4 slot. Dezerea Bryant’s dash to the top of the 100 meters national qualifying list boosted Kentucky (25.47) up one position to No. 5. No. 6 Georgia (218.29) fell one spot but was able to remain just ahead of stationary No. 7 LSU (215.47). Arkansas (198.78) Improved one place to No. 8. National Athlete of the Week Aisling Cuffe and her No. 9 Stanford women (169.51) were the big movers this week with a 15-position jump from a week ago, while Pac-12 rival Southern California (162.73) dropped two spots to No. 10. No. 22 Colorado also improved 15 spots.
By comparison, little changed atop the men’s rankings as defending national co-champions Florida (328.42) and Texas A&M (276.34) remained No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, with No. 3 Arkansas (237.38) and No. 4 Oregon (204.08) still in pursuit. Moving up to a season-best No. 5 was Texas Tech (173.37) as Kennedy Kithuka debuted at No. 2 at 10,000 meters at the Payton Jordan Invitational. The Red Raiders displaced Georgia (162.56) to No. 6. Also making big strides – up 10 spots, to be exact – following Payton Jordan was No. 7 Oklahoma State (161.80), which saw Shadrack Kipchirchir take the collegiate 10,000 meters lead and Kirubel Erassa move to No. 2 at 5000 meters. It marked the program’s first top-10 appearance during the outdoor season since the beginning of the USTFCCCA rankings. No. 8 Texas (159.85) fell one position from last week, while No. 9 LSU (156.61) gained one spot. Alabama (153.49) dropped two spots to round out the top 10. Far and away the biggest move of this week’s rankings came from the Stanford men, who improved a whopping 85 positions from a week ago to No. 22. The purpose and methodology of the rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national team race. Rankings points do not equate with NCAA Championships team points. A full description of the rankings can be found here.
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