DIII Indoor Track & Field Rankings — Week 4, February 15

QUICKLY … As it has been since the preseason, North Central’s men and Wartburg’s women are again the No. 1 teams in the country in Division III. On the men’s side, UW-Oshkosh and UW-La Crosse flipped positions, landing Oshkosh with their highest ranking of the season at No. 2. The WIAC now has five teams in the national top seven as UW-Whitewater moved to No. 4, UW-Eau Claire to No. 6, and UW-Platteville to No. 7. For the women, UW-Oshkosh is still at No. 2, a place they’ve enjoyed for the past three weeks. MIT and Washington (Mo.) are now at a season-high at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

National Ranking PDFs: Top 25 | Full by Team | Event-by-Event | Week-by-Week
Regional Index PDFs: Top Ten by Region | Full by Team | Event-by-Event
Collegiate-Leading Marks | Best Marks by Football Players
Previous Rankings

About the Rankings
For more on the national team rankings and links to guideline and rationale information visit …
http://www.ustfccca.org/rankings/division-iii-rankings

Rankings are determined by a mathematical formula, which is based on current national descending order lists. This is what’s used to compile a team’s ranking. 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-title race.

The Regional Index is determined using a similar method as national rankings, but on a smaller scale, comparing teams versus others within the same region. The result is a ranking that showcases squads with better all-around team potential — a group makeup critical for conference or similar team-scored events. A team may achieve a better regional ranking than a counterpart that has a better national ranking. Historically, some teams are better national-championship teams than conference-championship teams, having a few elite athletes that score very well in a diverse environment where teams do not have entries in more than a few events. Some teams are better at conference championships or similar team-scored events where they enter, and are competitive, in many of the events.

How a team fares in a national championship, conference championship, or scored meet with only a couple or few teams (like a dual or triangular) can be very different, given the number of events, competition, scoring, and makeup of entries — thus the rationale behind each of the ranking systems. Similar arguments about team makeup and rankings can also be found in swimming & diving and wrestling as their sports also have a similar trichotomy when it comes to team theory.