NEW ORLEANS, LA --- The Moravian College women's track & field team remained 20th in the nation in the first regular season 2012 NCAA Division III Indoor National rankings released by the U S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Wednesday.
The Greyhound women, who were also ranked 20th in the preseason poll, have a total of 35.30 points while Wartburg College is the top team in the poll at 190.38 points, 43 points ahead of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. To view the full top 25, visit http://www.ustfccca.org/2012/01/featured/diii-indoor-tf-national-team-rankings-2012-week-1.
Moravian will return to action on Saturday, January 28th when they are set to travel to the Thomson Invitational hosted by the University of Delaware.
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.
