Dec. 20, 2007

Top 25 Listing | Rankings rationale

Expanded rankings by team | Expanded rankings by event | Bonus superlatives

PHOENIX, Ariz.— The University of Missouri men's track and field team will enter the 2008 indoor season as the 23rd-ranked team in the nation as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Thursday at its convention in Phoenix, Ariz. The Tigers land in the association's inaugural rankings based on a strong contingent of returning throwers which include All-American weight throwers Chris Rohr and Tyler Dailey.

Rohr (Lee's Summit, Mo.), who earned his second All-America honor in the event last year as a sophomore, returns with the nation's fourth-best performance from last year among returners. Rohr landed a career-best throw that marked 69 feet, 4 inches (21.13m) at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships to finish seventh.

Dailey (Joplin, Mo.) placed ninth at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships to earn his first All-American with a career best throw of 68-5¾ (20.87m) and sits sixth on the national preseason list.

Egor Agafonov for No. 11 Kansas returns as the early favorite to repeat for a national title, having a mark from last year's NCAA Indoor meet that was less than six feet from anyone else in the returning field (77-5, 23.60m). No. 22 Auburn's Jake Dunkleberger (71-9, 21.87m) and Matthew Waulters from No. 20 Idaho (69-9¼, 21.27m) are among the trio ahead of Mizzou's Rohr.

Former Tiger Bobby Musil (DuBois, Neb.) was also considered in the team's rankings with the 11th-best returning weight-throw mark of the field as he held junior eligibility during the previous indoor season. Musil used his senior outdoor eligibility in 2007, graduated, and started his career, forgoing his senior indoor season, but is considered in the preseason rankings based on the system's rules.

Senior Nate Englin (Mounds View, Minn.) has the 12th-best returning shot put mark in the nation with his 60-5½ (18.43m) put at the Big 12 Indoor Championships a year ago.

The Tiger 4x400-meter relay team also received some consideration, listed as the 19th-best squad entering the season (3:10.16).

Mizzou tallied 37.67 power points in the preseason rankings, significantly trailing No. 22 Auburn (44.30), but are closely followed by No. 24 Oral Roberts (37.51) and No. 25 Virginia Tech (36.81).

Florida State (118.40) holds the nation's top spot on the men's side with Washington (109.74), Tennessee (106.58), Florida (89.81) and LSU (88.07) holding down spots in the top five. Baylor is the highest-ranked Big 12 team, standing 10th with 63.24 points, but is closely followed by No. 11 Kansas (61.64) and No. 12 Nebraska (58.35). In total, seven Big 12 teams are in the nation's preseason top 25.

LSU holds the top spot on the women's side (192.05) with defending national-champion Arizona State second (150.15) and Tennessee third (135.48). Texas Tech is the highest ranked Big 12 team at seventh with 81.67 points with No. 8 Texas A&M is follows very closely with 81.54. Texas at No. 11 (62.56) is the only other conference team in the top 25.

About the USTFCCCA Rankings
The 2008 USTFCCCA Rankings for NCAA Division I squads were devised and are compiled by Tom Lewis of the University of Missouri. Each team is assigned “power points” based on each individual performance on the official NCAA-qualifying list. For the indoor season, spots one to 35 in each event on the national-descending order list receive points based on its position in the national rankings. Additional power points are assigned to each performance based on comparisons with the rest of the field in that event.

For preseason rankings, the team's total complement of national marks from the prior collegiate season, in this case the 2007 indoor season, receive consideration. Only those listed as freshmen, sophomores, and juniors on last year's list are measured. The system also uses the teams' best relay marks from the previous season.

Rankings for the indoor season, using 2008 marks, will be released each Wednesday beginning January 30. A complete rundown of the ranking method and a team-by-team breakdown can be found on ustfccca.org.

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