The Kentucky men’s and women’s track and field teams both moved up to No. 6 in this week’s National Team Computer Rankings, released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday.
The men’s team moved up 12 spots, while the women’s team moved up three spots from the preseason rankings.
Monday’s rankings included marks recorded the past two weeks.
The UK men’s team has two NCAA leaders (Tim Duckworth – heptathlon and Jacob Thomson – 3,000 meters), and five marks that rank in the national top 10 early this season.
The UK women’s team has on NCAA leader (Olivia Gruver – pole vault) and six NCAA top-five marks for the early season.
Kentucky will send a limited-size squad to the IU Relays this weekend, before much of the team will be expected to compete at the McCravy Memorial on Feb. 3. The meet will be broadcast on SEC Network+, and features a stellar field descending upon Nutter Field House for a hexagonal scored competition.
Clemson, Illinois, No. 20 (men’s) Kansas, No. 20 (women’s) Purdue, and No. 12 (men’s) Virginia Tech are entered.
The National Team Computer Rankings are compiled by a mathematical formula based on the NCAA Division I Descending Order Lists. Marks from previous seasons are included until enough data can be drawn from the current season and current freshmen aren’t included in the rankings until they compete in an indoor meet. The purpose and methodology of the rankings is to create an index that displays the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the race for a national title. Ranking points don’t equate with points that will be scored at the NCAA Championships, and furthermore or less predictive of conference finish since they rank national competitors so athletes can finish high at the conference meet, where they might not even qualify for NCAAs.
Event-by-event national ranking reports now feature a new metric. Each current-season performance is measured against the last five years of NCAA Championship qualifying and assigned a percentage chance of selection after declarations. Chances are higher than 50% if the performance beats the five-year average of the last-entered seed in that event. This is an unofficial product from the USTFCCCA to aid in contextualizing performances and their relevance in the national championship landscape.
The UK women’s team has been ranked in the top 10 every week since the start of last season. UK entered NCAAs ranked No. 5 last year and finished sixth.
The UK men’s team entered the NCAA Indoor Championships last year ranked No. 32, and finished 22nd.
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For the most in-depth coverage of the UK cross country and track and field program follow the @KentuckyTrack social media channels on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as well as on UKathletics.com.
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For more information contact:
Jake Most