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February 1, 2012

2012 Season - Men's Track & Field ranked second in NCAA

Sophomore Chris Madison has the best time on the second ranked Vikings in the 600 with a clocking of 1:23.82. Augustana climbed from fourth to second in the latest NCAA Division III dual meet power rankings.

After a long off-season, Augustana started right back where they left off from a year ago and that is near the top of the NCAA Division III track & field team dual meet rankings. After finishing second in the final outdoor poll last season, veteran Head Coach Paul Olsen’s squad is back at it again.

After the first rankings came out on January 25, the Vikings were in fourth. However, a strong performance at the Wartburg Lutheran Triangular on Saturday, January 28 pushed the Vikings into the second position. The Blue & Gold have accumulated 142.73 points, up from 132.92 last week.

This poll, conducted by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, quantifies the depth of each team. The team’s total score is the sum of all points earned in each event. Two individual athletes are scored per event, as well as one relay team. The points are based on the best marks of an event in the current season, with the faster times and farther distances worth more.

College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin rivals North Central and Illinois Wesleyan are both in the top 10 in the nation. North Central is first with 156.04 points, while Illinois Wesleyan is seventh with 132.77 points. Wisconsin-Oshkosh, another Midwest region rival, is fourth, just behind Augustana with 142.64 points. Tufts (137.78) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (133.83) gained points, however they stayed fifth and sixth in the standings. Nebraska Wesleyan jumped to eighth with 129.97 points, followed by Washington (126.60) and St. Lawrence (123.18) rounding out the top ten.

The Augustana men have competed in four meets. The Vikings hosted an Intra-squad meet on January 6th, where no team scores were kept. Augustana then traveled to Dubuque, Iowa on January 14th where it finished first of nine teams in the Sol Butler Classic. On January 21st, the Vikings won 11 events at the Midwest Invitational at Monmouth College but no team scores were kept. The Vikings won 11 more events at the Wartburg Lutheran Triangular on January 28th hosted by Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, and won the three-team competition.

The Vikings will travel to Whitewater, Wisconsin to compete in the Wisconsin-Whitewater Invitational on Friday February 3rd.

2012 NCAA DIVISION III INDOOR DUAL MEET POWER RANKINGS

Sponsored by the USTFCCA

As of 01/31/2012

POLL #2