Oregon's women held on to the No. 1 spot in the latest poll.
NEW ORLEANS — Take one look at the NCAA Division I Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings, and it reveals not much has changed from week to week despite some incredible performances at recent meets.
RANKINGS: USTFCCCA Poll
In the most recent rankings that were released Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), the top-8 teams remained the same with Oregon headlining the field and five teams from the Southeastern Conference in that mix as well.
Before we go any further, points in the USTFCCCA National Team Computer Rankings are based off the NCAA Division I Descending Order Lists in addition to the USTFCCCA Individual Rankings. The better an athlete performs in his event, the more points he provides to his team in the National Team Computer Rankings. Each athlete’s points are then added up to give a team its total in the rankings.
The Ducks strengthened their lead from Week 1 to Week 2 and have six athletes to thank for it: Deajah Stevens, Sasha Wallace as well as Lilli Budron, Ashante Horsley, Raveyn Rogers and Katie Rainsberger. All six stood out at the East-West Challenge in New York.
Sasha Wallace put @OregonTF into the all-time indoor hurdles top ten with a 7.91 run in New York this weekend. pic.twitter.com/tLPgralNTs
— USTFCCCA (@USTFCCCA) January 30, 2017
Stevens blistered a 22.65 in the 200 meters and moved up to No. 1 in both the USTFCCCA Individual Rankings and in the Descending Order List.
Wallace clocked a time of 7.91 in the 60 hurdles, which moved her to No. 1 in the Individual Rankings and No. 1in the Descending Order List.
Then that quartet of Budron, Horsley, Rogers and Rainsberger broke the collegiate record in the Distance Medley Relay. When Rainsberger crossed the finish line after 1600 meters, the clock read 10:48.77, breaking the old mark set by Tennessee in 2009.
Oregon now has a total of 235.64 points, 46.83 more than No. 2 Arkansas.
.@OregonTF's Raevyn Rogers again went sub-2:02 this weekend and now has two all-time top ten marks indoors. pic.twitter.com/MpXWvQdV8O
— USTFCCCA (@USTFCCCA) January 30, 2017
Rounding out the top-5 is No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Southern California and No. 5 Florida. The Bulldogs and Women of Troy are the only other teams — in addition to the Duck and Razorbacks — that have eclipsed the 100-point barrier.
Boise State took a leap this week. The Broncos went from No. 18 to No. 11, which is a high-water mark for the program (previous high was 18th in 2016). Sadi Henderson’s effort in the 800 (2:04.01) pushed her into the top-10 of the Individual Rankings.
Further down, Penn State and Harvard each jumped 10 spots. The Nittany Lions went from No. 29 to No. 19 after Tessa Barrett ran the fastest time over 3000 meters this season, while the Crimson went from No. 34 to No. 24.
We’re less than six weeks from crowning the team and individual champs at the 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in College Station, Texas. Be sure to check back throughout the season to see how these rankings change until then.
