SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University women's track and field team has retained the #4 ranking in the West Region of NCAA Division III this week, as released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The Bearcats have been ranked #4 throughout the season.
Listed first in the women's West Region rankings is Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) with 666.20 points. The #2 team is NWC opponent George Fox University with 460.95 points. Whitworth University, also from the NWC, is #3 at 414.69 and Willamette is #4 at 358.25. Ranked #5 is Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) at 254.42. University of Redlands (Calif.) follows at #6 with 252.26 points.
In addition to George Fox, Whitworth and Willamette, the NWC also is represented by Linfield College at #9 with 178.37 points and Pacific Lutheran University at #10 with 129.38 points.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps sits at the top of the men's West Region rankings with 507.67 points. Whitworth holds at #2 with 441.96 points and Redlands is #3 at 327.95. George Fox is listed at #4 with 312.58 and Occidental is #5 with 307.87.
The top six teams remained the same in the women's West Region rankings. The top nine teams held their positions from a week ago in the men's West Region rankings. Pacific Lutheran moved into the top 10 among men's teams.
In the women's national rankings, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse stayed at #1 with 252.36 points. Ranked #2 was University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with 131.03 points. A third member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, advanced from #8 up five spots to #3 with 123.53 points.
The WIAC also has University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh at #4 with 117.49 points. Massachusetts Institute of Technology fell from #3 to #5 and now has 109.62 points.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps is the top-ranked West Region women's team at #10 in the national rankings. Also nationally ranked from the West Region is California Lutheran University at #13.
Team rankings are determined by assigning points to athletes ranked high on the national performance lists. Each team's score is the sum of its athletes point totals.
Still holding at #1 in the men's national rankings is UW-La Crosse with 217.51 points. UW-Eau Claire stayed at #2 with 197.25 points and UW-Whitewater remained at #3 with 110.19 points. St. Olaf College (Minn.) move up four spots and is now #3 at 102/39. Monmouth College (Illinois) slipped one position to #5 at 89.85 points.
West Region men's teams in the national rankings are Whitworth at #13 -- a positive change of five spots -- and Redlands at #25.
Four members of the Willamette women's track and field team will compete at the 2015 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships from Thursday, May 21 through Saturday, May 23 at St. Lawrence University (N.Y.). The NCAA Championships will be held at Merrick-Pinkard Track.
Taylor Ostrander will compete in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase this week at the NCAA Championships.
