The University of Florida men’s track and field team, the defending NCAA Indoor Champion, is ranked No. 1 in the 2011 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Poll, released Thursday afternoon by the New Orleans-based organization.
The Gator men are coming off a 2010 season where they garnered the first national title in the history of the program, claiming the NCAA Indoor Championship with 57 total team points. Florida defeated second-place Oregon and Texas A&M by 13 points. UF returns two individual NCAA Indoor Champions from a year ago in sprinter Jeff Demps (Winter Garden, Fla.) and jumper Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.).
For the third consecutive year, national team rankings are complied by mathematical formulae based on national descending order lists and data taken from previous seasons. For the preseason and early-season rankings, data will be taken from previous seasons as well as the current season.
Southeastern Conference foe LSU checks in at No. 2 in the USTFCCCA Preseason Men’s Poll, while Texas A&M (No. 3), Oregon (No. 4) and Virginia Tech (No. 5) round out the USTFCCCA’s top-five. The Gators are one of five SEC teams to be ranked in the preseason poll, joined by LSU (No. 2), Auburn (No. 11), Arkansas (No. 13) and Georgia (No. 14).
In the individual men’s rankings, Demps is the nation’s leading returner in the men’s 60m dash, while senior Terrell Wilks (New Haven, Conn.) is ranked 11th in that event. Sophomore Tony McQuay (Riviera Beach, Fla.) is ranked fourth nationally in the 400m and fifth in the 200m. Sophomore hurdler William Wynne (Marietta, Ga.), who is returning after redshirting the 2010 campaign, is ranked ninth in the nation in the 60m hurdles and Florida’s 4x400m relay is third nationally. Taylor is the nation’s leading returner in the triple jump and is fifth nationally in the long jump. Sophomore Omar Craddock (Killeen, Texas) is ranked ninth in the men’s triple jump, while senior Kemal Mesic (Sarajevo, Bosnia) is second in the shot put. Junior heptathlete Gray Horn (Waynesfield, Ohio) is ranked ninth in the nation in the heptathlon.
The Florida women who, due to graduation, lost 32 of their 33 points from a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships a year ago, are not ranked to begin the 2011 campaign. Oregon, the defending women’s indoor national champion, is ranked No. 1 in the USTFCCCA Preseason Women’s Poll. Texas A&M is No. 2 followed by No. 3 LSU. No. 4 Tennessee and No. 5 Clemson round out the USTFCCCA’s top-five.
Florida opens the 2011 season on Jan. 15, when it travels to University Park, Pa., to participate in the Nittany Lion Challenge, beginning at 11 a.m. ET.
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 the team’s Twitter account @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField.
2011 USTFCCCA MEN’S PRESEASON POLL
| Rank | School |
| 1 | Florida |
| 2 | LSU |
| 3 | Texas A&M |
| 4 | Oregon |
| 5 | Virginia Tech |
| 6 | Florida State |
| 7 | Texas Tech |
| 8 | Penn State |
| 9 | Stanford |
| 10 | Indiana |
| 11 | Auburn |
| 12 | Nebraska |
| 13 | Arkansas |
| 14 | Georgia |
| 15 | Texas |
| 16 | Minnesota |
| 17 | California |
| 18 | Oklahoma |
| 19 | Oklahoma State |
| 20 | Kansas State |
| 21 | North Carolina |
| 22 | Washington |
| 23 | UCLA |
| 24 | Baylor |
| 25 | Arizona State |
2011 USTFCCCA WOMEN’S PRESEASON POLL
| Rank | School |
| 1 | Oregon |
| 2 | Texas A&M |
| 3 | LSU |
| 4 | Tennessee |
| 5 | Clemson |
| 6 | Arkansas |
| 7 | Auburn |
| 8 | West Virginia |
| 9 | Southern Illinois |
| 10 | Oklahoma |
| 11 | Villanova |
| 12 | BYU |
| 13 | Florida State |
| 14 | Texas |
| 15 | Texas Tech |
| 16 | Arizona |
| 17 | Nebraska |
| 18 | Louisville |
| 19 | Penn State |
| 20 | South Carolina |
| 21 | Kentucky |
| 22 | Georgetown |
| 23 | TCU |
| 24 | Ohio State |
| 25 | Washington |
