Florida Men's Track & Field Ranked Preseason No. 1 for Second Consecutive Year
Tuesday, January 10, 2012 | Track and Field
The University of Florida men's track and field team, the two-time defending NCAA Indoor Champion, is ranked No. 1 in the 2012 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Poll, released Tuesday afternoon by the New Orleans-based organization.
The Gator men won their second-straight NCAA crown in 2011, scoring 52 points at the national championships to home team Texas A&M's 40.
The preseason national team computer rankings as calculated by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) projects the Gator men and the Oregon women as the early paper favorites based largely on performance bests from returners.
| DID YOU KNOW? The Gator men's track and field program is the third Florida squad to be named preseason No. 1 in the 2011-2012 season. The 2011 NCAA Champion women's tennis team and the 2011 CWS runner-up baseball squad also earned preseason No. 1 rankings. |
Led by 2011 USTFCCCA National Indoor Head Coach of the Year Mike Holloway, the Gator men return eight 2011 USTFCCCA Indoor All-Americans, while the women welcome back four 2011 USTFCCCA Indoor All-Americans to the track in 2012.
The Southeastern Conference reigns supreme on both the men's and the women's side of the 2012 conference index. The SEC and Big Ten each have six squads in the preseason top 25 among men's squads, while the women's side boasts three SEC programs in the preseason top 25.
Florida opens the 2012 indoor season at the Alabama Invitational in Birmingham, Ala. on January 14th before returning home to host the Gator Invite on January 22nd.
For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow Florida track and field on Twitter at @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField. You can also find the Gators on Facebook.
| 2012 USTFCCCA MEN'S PRESEASON POLL | ||
| Rank | School | Points |
| 1 | FLORIDA | 150.54 |
| 2 | Arkansas | 149.44 |
| 3 | LSU | 130.87 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 86.42 |
| 5 | Nebraska | 82.09 |
| 6 | Florida State | 81.50 |
| 7 | Stanford | 76.51 |
| 8 | Indiana | 74.81 |
| 9 | Arizona | 74.80 |
| 10 | Texas | 72.28 |
| 11 | Kansas State | 69.82 |
| 12 | Texas A&M | 69.17 |
| 13 | Wisconsin | 64.25 |
| 14 | BYU | 62.40 |
| 15 | Minnesota | 59.95 |
| 16 | Iowa | 59.49 |
| 17 | Oregon | 53.63 |
| 18 | Virginia Tech | 53.56 |
| 19 | Mississippi | 49.60 |
| 20 | Mississippi State | 44.94 |
| 21 | Georgia | 42.57 |
| 22 | Iona | 39.88 |
| 23 | Oklahoma | 39.08 |
| 24 | NC State | 37.43 |
| 25 | Northern Arizona | 34.06 |
| Men's Conference Index Top 10 | |||
| Rank | Conference | Points | Top 25 Teams |
| 1 | SEC | 611.56 | 6 |
| 2 | Big Ten | 525.89 | 6 |
| 3 | Big 12 | 350.36 | 4 |
| 4 | Pac-12 | 281.60 | 3 |
| 5 | ACC | 255.33 | 3 |
| 6 | Big East | 67.97 | |
| 7 | Big Sky | 66.98 | 1 |
| 8 | West Coast | 62.40 | 1 |
| 9 | Mountain West | 59.06 | |
| 10 | MEAC | 49.71 | |
| 2012 USTFCCCA WOMEN'S PRESEASON POLL | ||
| Rank | School | Points |
| 1 | Oregon | 200.25 |
| 2 | LSU | 142.63 |
| 3 | Arkansas | 124.93 |
| 4 | Texas | 112.27 |
| 5 | Clemson | 111.83 |
| 6 | UCF | 100.67 |
| 7 | BYU | 85.81 |
| 8 | Texas Tech | 70.09 |
| 9 | Florida State | 61.83 |
| 10 | Arizona | 59.78 |
| 11 | Ohio State | 57.99 |
| 12 | Southern Illinois | 57.69 |
| 13 | Southern Miss | 57.17 |
| 14 | Georgia | 53.38 |
| 15 | Stony Brook | 48.21 |
| 16 | Arizona State | 47.75 |
| 17 | Texas A&M | 47.71 |
| 18 | Baylor | 47.66 |
| 19 | Michigan | 45.21 |
| 20 | Connecticut | 44.24 |
| 21 | Oklahoma | 43.10 |
| 22 | Villanova | 40.02 |
| 23 | Stanford | 36.71 |
| 24 | Georgetown | 34.84 |
| 25 | Nebraska | 32.39 |
| Women's Conference Index Top 10 | |||
| Rank | Conference | Points | Top 25 Teams |
| 1 | SEC | 446.14 | 3 |
| 2 | Pac-12 | 420.28 | 4 |
| 3 | Big 12 | 410.15 | 5 |
| 4 | ACC | 265.55 | 2 |
| 5 | Big Ten | 235.59 | 3 |
| 6 | Conference USA | 227.33 | 2 |
| 7 | Big East | 175.99 | 3 |
| 8 | Missouri Valley | 126.00 | 1 |
| 9 | West Coast | 96.13 | 1 |
| 10 | Mountain West | 71.31 | |
