FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
Complete USTFCCCA Top 25 Rankings
Apr. 27, 2011-- For the second straight week, North Central College is the nation's second ranked men's squad according to the National Team Computer Rankings released Wednesday by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
The computer rankings are new for the 2011 season. Mathematical formulae based on current national descending-order lists in all events are used to compile a team's ranking. The purpose of the rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots at the NCAA Division III National Championships.
The 2011 Indoor National Champion Cardinals accumulated 132.92 points in the week four outdoor track & field Top 25, maintaining their hold on the No. 2 position. McMurry University (Texas) remains the nation's top ranked squad, garnering 230.73 points while Haverford College (Pa.) surges up 15 spots to third. The 2010 cross country national champion Fords amassed 113.98 points while Washington University in Saint Louis is fourth with 112.21 points. Central College rounds out the top five with 110.53 points.
Augustana College is the only other College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin squad to appear in the rankings, dropping four spots to 14th with 69.86 points.
A majority of the team was idle last week with only the pole vaulters competing in a meet. Three vaulters finished among the top six at the University of Iowa's Musco Twilight Invitational on Saturday with
Josh Winder winning the event with a clearance of 16 feet, 6 3/4 inches.
The Cardinals compete as a split-squad this weekend, sending 14 athletes to the prestigious Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa from Thursday through Saturday while three distance runners will take the track in the 5,000-meters on Friday at the Gina Relays in Hillsdale, Mich. The remainder of the squad will make the short trip down Chicago Avenue on Friday for the Benedictine University Invitational.
