Adams State Men Climb to the Top of the Division II National Team Computer Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – The Adams State men have usurped former top-ranked defending indoor champion Saint Augustine’s to take over the No. 1 spot in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II National Team Computer Rankings released Tuesday, while Lincoln (Mo.) remained No. 1 for the women.

NCAA Division II National Team Computer Rankings Top 5: Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Adams State 210.93 pts	Saint Augustine’s 197.42 pts	Ashland 161.30 pts	GVSU 126.22 pts	Minnesota State 116.79 pts
View Complete Men’s National Team Computer Rankings

Unlike the national rankings for Divisions I and III, preseason marks will no longer be considered when calculating the Division II rankings from this point forward, resulting this week in some significant shuffling of the top 25 for both the women and the men.

Adams State’s men claimed the top spot behind an especially deep middle distance and distance corps, along with national prowess in a number of field events. Led by the trio of Kevin Batt, Tabor Stevens and Matt Daniels at the top of the national mile descending order list, the Grizzlies account for six of the top 11 performers in the nation.

NCAA Division II National Team Computer Rankings Top 5: Women
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Lincoln (Mo.) 212.39 pts	GVSU 195.36 pts	Adams State 153.15 pts	Ashland 149.55 pts	Johnson C. Smith 79.94 pts
View Complete Women’s National Team Computer Rankings

The Adams State-Saint Augustine’s swap atop the men’s rankings and a move by the Minnesota State men to No. 5 were the lone changes in this week’s men’s and women’s top-fives, rising above the fray for positioning that took place lower in the rankings.

Only men’s team and two women’s teams ranked outside the top five remained stationary, with some improving as many as 60 positions.

National Team Computer Rankings will be complied by mathematical formulae based on national descending order lists. For the preseason ranking data was taken from previous seasons as well as the current season.

However, only marks from the current season will be used in subsequent rankings.

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.

USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings should not be referred to as a “poll” as no voting occurs during the process.

Men’s Rankings

Adams State (210.93 rankings points) finished the regular season in 2013 as the top-ranked team in the nation, but managed only a third-place finish at the subsequent NCAA Division II Indoor Championships.

In addition to Batt, Stevens and Daniels in the mile, Adams State also has recorded Division-leading marks in the DMR, the long jump and the triple jump) – both by Carlton Lavong. Chaz Butler is also ranked third in the country at 60 meters.

These strong early-season performances gave the Grizzlies the upper hand in the rankings over Saint Augustine’s (197.42), whose top student-athletes have yet to round into the form that gave the Falcons the preseason No. 1 spot. As a result, Saint Augustine’s score dropped by nearly 36 points from the preseason.

The Falcons have eight top-five performers thus far, headlined by nation-leading 60-meter hurdler Moussa Dembele and No. 5 Ty’reak Murray along with No. 2 quarter-miler Joshua Edmonds and No. 3 Roxbury Cato.

No. 3 Ashland took the biggest hit of any top-five team in terms of total points, dropping nearly 44 from the preseason to 161.30. The Eagles do have seven top-five national performers, including No. 2 Drew Windle at 800 meters and No. 2 Zac Ball in the weight throw.

No. 4 Grand Valley State held relatively steady, logging a slight improvement of 2.64 from its preseason score for a week one total of 126.22.

Led by recently crowned all-time Division II indoor shot put record holder and two-time reigning National Athlete of the Week Christopher Reed, Minnesota State (116.79) improved two spots to No. 5 – tying its best mark since the USTFCCCA rankings began in 2010. The Mavericks were No. 5 in week six of 2013.

No. 6 Southwest Baptist (89.71) jumped 12 spots from the preseason, joining the top 10 for the first time since the beginning of the USTFCCCA rankings in 2010.

No. 7 Southern Connecticut (86.48) improved one position from early January, while Findlay (84.24) dropped two slots to No. 8. Nebraska-Kearney at No. 9 (69.82) and No. 10 Pittsburg State (65.76) improved three and five positions, respectively, to round out the top 10.

This is the first top-10 appearance for Nebraska-Kearney since the inception of the USTFCCCA rankings in 2010.

Women’s Rankings

Preseason No. 1 Lincoln (Mo.) remained atop the first regular-season edition of the rankings, but the Blue Tigers’ advantage over No. 2 Grand Valley State was cut by 30 rankings points with the subtraction of preseason marks from the formula.

Led by nine 2014 top-five performers – including No. 2 Latoya King at 60 meters and No. 2 Nickiesha Beaumont in the long jump – the Blue Tigers checked in with 212.39 rankings points, down 25.59 from early January.

No. 2 GVSU also saw its score drop, but only by 5.03 points to 195.36. The Lakers have five 2014 top-five performers, led by top-ranked Kalena Franklin in the 60-meter Hurdles and 2012 NCAA DII indoor and outdoor pole vault champion Kristen Hixson. GVSU is also boosted by the nation’s biggest base of scoring student-athletes with 28.

Adams State remained No. 3 with 153.15 points, down 17.93 from the preseason. The Grizzlies have posted six performances in 2014 that rank among the top five in Division II, including the No. 1 miler in Alicia Nelson.

Ashland at No. 4 was the lone top-five team to benefit from the removal of preseason marks from the rankings, improving 11.17 points from its preseason score to 149.55. Top-ranked weight thrower Kim Habegger leads a group of six Ealges in the top five of their events in 2014, half of whom are throwers.

No. 5 Johnson C. Smith rounded out the top five at 79.94, down 11.19 from the preseason.

Southern Connecticut jumped 21 positions to No. 6, but the Owls’ was not the biggest move into the top 10. That honor didn’t even belong to No. 7 New Mexico Highlands, which jumped 45 notches behind National Athlete of the Week Shanice McPherson, and also not No. 8 New Haven and its four-spot increase.

It was Chadron State’s 54-position jump to No. 9 that earned that honor. Findlay rounded out the top 10 with its own sizeable improvement of 31 spots.

All of those teams from No. 6 through No. 10 achieved their highest rankings since the beginning of the USTFCCCA rankings in 2010.