NEW ORLEANS – Just as the NCAA Division II world has had a chance to catch its collective breath from an exciting cross country season, indoor track & field has arrived.
Preseason National Team Computer Rankings were announced Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, with the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) dominating the preseason rankings with 11 programs ranked inside the men's and women's rankings, including six inside the Top 10.
NATIONAL PDFs: Top-25 Summary | By Team | By Event | Top-10 Count per Team
WEEK-BY-WEEK PDFs: This Season | This Season by Rank | All-Time
The indoor season officially opened up this past weekend, with some teams around the nation set to take advantage of pre-winter break meets to test their fitness.
In the meantime, these National Team Computer Rankings took into account marks achieved during the 2015 indoor season to set the stage for the start of the 2016 season. The higher an athlete’s mark ranks on the national leaderboard, the more points are garnered for that athlete’s team. The teams with the most points are ranked the highest.
During the regular season, only marks achieved during the 2016-17 season will be counted for the rankings.
The ASU men start as relatively strong favorites to reclaim their national title from the 2014 season. Reigning national champion Tiffin checked in at No. 2, followed by No. 3 Lincoln (Mo.), No. 4 Grand Valley State and reigning outdoor national champion No. 5 Saint Augustine’s.
Comparatively, the Pittsburg State women start with less of a preseason cushion over cross country champion No. 2 Grand Valley State. Rounding out the top five were No. 3 Hillsdale, defending national indoor champion No. 4 Lincoln (Mo.) and No. 5 Johnson C. Smith.
Since the debut of the preseason rankings for the 2011 campaign, the top-ranked men’s teams have equally as often won the national title (twice) as they have finished 10th at the NCAA Championships (twice). The national champion during that time have just as often been ranked first or second in the preseason as they have been ranked fifth or lower.
Not since 2012 has a preseason favorite in the women’s rankings gone on to win the national title. GVSU was the last women’s team to accomplish that feat in both 2011 and 2012.
The full National Team Computer Rankings for the 2017 preseason can be found below.
USTFCCCA Men's Indoor Track & Field Team Computer Rankings - November 30, 2016
| Rank | Institution | Points | Conference | Head Coach (Yr) | 2016 FINAL |
| 1 | Adams State | 197.24 | RMAC | Rock Light (4th) | 2 |
| 2 | Tiffin | 135.21 | GLIAC | Jeremy Croy (17th) | 1 |
| 3 | Lincoln (Mo.) | 133.74 | MIAA | Victor Thomas (16th) | 3 |
| 4 | Grand Valley State | 112.55 | GLIAC | Jerry Baltes (18th) | 5 |
| 5 | Saint Augustine’s | 111.75 | CIAA | George Williams (41st) | 9 |
| 6 | Ashland | 103.23 | GLIAC | Jud Logan (14th) | 10 |
| 7 | Colorado Mines | 98.41 | RMAC | Matt Sparks (4th) | 13 |
| 8 | Azusa Pacific | 87.04 | PacWest | Kevin Reid (22nd) | 21 |
| 9 | Minnesota State | 84.96 | NSIC | Jim Dilling (4th) | 19 |
| 10 | Pittsburg State | 84.22 | MIAA | Russ Jewett (29th) | 7 |
| 11 | Findlay | 77.96 | GLIAC | Marc Arce (29th) | 21 |
| 12 | Western State | 77.72 | RMAC | Chris Bradford (8th) | 21 |
| 13 | Academy of Art | 70.30 | PacWest | Kevin LaSure (2nd) | 3 |
| 14 | Texas A&M-Commerce | 58.88 | Lone Star | Ross Smithey (2nd) | 8 |
| 15 | Shorter | 49.19 | Gulf South | Scott Byrd (10th) | 21 |
| 16 | West Texas A&M | 48.18 | Lone Star | Darren Flowers (8th) | 16 |
| 17 | Limestone | 46.81 | Conf. Carolinas | Joseph Wassink (3rd) | 41 |
| 18 | Texas A&M-Kingsville | 46.17 | Lone Star | Ryan Dall (9th) | 6 |
| 19 | Alaska Anchorage | 44.27 | GNAC | Michael Friess (27th) | 14 |
| 20 | Shippensburg | 43.57 | PSAC | Dave Osanitsch (12th) | 28 |
| 21 | Saginaw Valley State | 43.14 | GLIAC | Rod Cowan (8th) | 46 |
| 22 | American International | 42.18 | Northeast-10 | Leo Mayo (11th) | 14 |
| 23 | Hillsdale | 40.88 | GLIAC | Andrew Towne (3rd) | 38 |
| 24 | Lewis | 40.34 | GLVC | Dana Schwarting (12th) | 11 |
| 25 | Claflin | 36.23 | SIAC | Lincoln London (4th) | 33 |
USTFCCCA Women's Indoor Track & Field Team Computer Rankings - November 30, 2016
| Rank | Institution | Points | Conference | Head Coach (Yr) | 2016 FINAL |
| 1 | Pittsburg State | 153.34 | MIAA | Russ Jewett (31st) | 4 |
| 2 | Grand Valley State | 138.31 | GLIAC | Jerry Baltes (18th) | 3 |
| 3 | Hillsdale | 115.10 | GLIAC | Andrew Towne (6th) | 2 |
| 4 | Lincoln (Mo.) | 110.58 | MIAA | Victor Thomas (16th) | 1 |
| 5 | Johnson C. Smith | 102.97 | CIAA | Lennox Graham (10th) | 7 |
| 6 | Ashland | 85.29 | GLIAC | Jud Logan (14th) | 30 |
| 7 | Minnesota Duluth | 84.01 | NSIC | Joanna Warmington (6th) | 14 |
| 8 | Saint Augustine’s | 75.38 | CIAA | George Williams (41st) | 6 |
| 9 | Lewis | 67.68 | GLVC | Dana Schwarting (12th) | 4 |
| 10 | U-Mary | 65.79 | NSIC | Mike Thorson (23rd) | 30 |
| 11 | Western State | 63.97 | RMAC | Chris Bradford (8th) | 37 |
| 12 | West Texas A&M | 57.86 | Lone Star | Darren Flowers (8th) | 18 |
| 13 | Findlay | 54.14 | GLIAC | Marc Arce (29th) | 24 |
| 14 | New Mexico Highlands | 53.96 | RMAC | Bob DeVries (25th) | 8 |
| 15 | Southern Connecticut | 53.20 | Northeast-10 | Melissa Stoll (5th) | 29 |
| 16 | Merrimack | 51.00 | Northeast-10 | Jacky Mendes (3rd) | 20 |
| 17 | Adams State | 50.86 | RMAC | Rock Light (4th) | 16 |
| 18 | Winona State | 49.91 | NSIC | Mason Rebarchek (13th) | 24 |
| 19 | Cedarville | 49.70 | G-MAC | Jeff Bolender (14th) | 24 |
| 20 | Saginaw Valley State | 49.46 | GLIAC | Rod Cowan (8th) | 40 |
| 21 | Minnesota State | 48.86 | NSIC | Jen Blue (17th) | 18 |
| 22 | Texas A&M-Kingsville | 47.10 | Lone Star | Ryan Dall (9th) | 47 |
| 23 | Angelo State | 44.78 | Lone Star | Tom Dibbern (1st) | 16 |
| 24 | Queens (N.C.) | 44.40 | SAC | Jim Vahrenkamp (5th) | 11 |
| 25 | Southwest Baptist | 44.06 | MIAA | Corey McElhaney (9th) | 20 |