Rankings, results, schedules, trivia, it’s all right here.

Earlier today, the new men’s dual meet rankings were released. They are below.

The next women’s rankings will come out next Wednesday. Note that the women’s rankings are from January 16 but the win-loss records are up to date.

Men Week 1 release (January 23)	Women Week 1 release (January 16)
1. Texas A&M (2-0)	1. LSU (2-0)
2. Arkansas (2-1)	2. Texas A&M (1-1)
3. Nebraska (0-0)	3. Kansas (2-0)
4. Indiana (1-0)	4. Nebraska (0-0)
5. Texas (0-1)	5. Arkansas (1-2)
6. Purdue (1-1)	6. Michigan State (2-1)
7. Indiana State (3-1)	7. Indiana State (4-0)
8. Eastern Michigan (4-0)	8. Michigan (0-0)
9. Michigan State (3-0)	9. Eastern Michigan (2-0)
10. LSU (0-2)	10. Indiana (1-0)
11. Connecticut (3-0)	11. Princeton (3-0)
12. Notre Dame (2-1)	12. Kent State (1-0)
13. Michigan (0-0)	13. Purdue (0-2)
14. Akron (2-1)	14. North Dakota State (2-0)
15. Kent State (0-1)	15. Western Michigan (1-0)
16. Kansas State (3-0)	16. Illinois State (0-1)
17. Navy (3-0)	17. Kansas State (3-0)
18. Alabama (0-0)	18. Alabama (0-0)
19. Princeton (0-1)	19. Eastern Illinois (0-1)
20. Missouri (0-0)	20. Dartmouth (2-0)

Results

Men

Texas A&M 128½, Arkansas 99, LSU 82½
Results | AggieAthletics story | Flotrack coverage
Texas A&M won this rather easily, but it looked to me like Arkansas didn’t go whole hog for the meet (if you’ll excuse the pun). Since this was the Aggies’ one and only indoor dual meet and since they beat the #2 team in the process, they’re probably going to stay #1 for the rest of the indoor season.

Does this defeat mean that Arkansas has lost its chance at #1 for the bigger prize, the combined indoor/outdoor season? No it doesn’t, but it will make it harder. Understanding how they could overcome this loss involves an explanation of how the dual rankings work.

There are three basic elements that go into rankings. One is an assessment of each team’s best marks in standard events (evaluated in a way that describes dual meet strength, which is a bit different than championship meet strength). This gives me a baseline to start from. Then I do some adjustments based on actual meet results, and teams with tough and/or extensive dual meet schedules get extra consideration. Also note that for the season-long indoor/outdoor comprehensive rankings, outdoor competition counts more than indoor competition.

Texas A&M has one more “dual” meet, the four-way Pepsi Invitational at Oregon in early April. If they lose, then the fight for #1 is wide open. If they win, then it makes it very tough for Arkansas to be #1—but not impossible. Despite losing to the Aggies head-to-head, Arkansas already has Texas A&M “beaten” in scheduling, with five dual-type meets in 2013 to TAMU’s two (and all against very good competition). If the Razorbacks win all three of their outdoor duals and compile significantly better marks over the course of the season than the Aggies do, then they could be #1, because a January loss is not lethal in the big picture. But it does make things difficult.

Purdue 81, Indiana State 74
Results | PurdueSports story
Purdue has been the Big Ten’s doormat for a long time, but it looks like things are changing. A new coach has brought in a new attitude, and the Boilermakers may be among the most-improved squads in the nation.

Michigan State 181, Notre Dame 175, South Florida 101, DePaul 70
Results | MSUSpartans story
When combing through college schedules ahead of the dual meet rankings project, I looked at Notre Dame’s schedule and merely saw “Notre Dame Invitational”. I had no idea that this would be a scored quadrangular. Michigan State got a nice tune-up ahead of its rivalry meet with Michigan. Notre Dame barely lost, missing the services of a few footballers whose long and challenging season ended barely two weeks earlier.

Akron 80, Kent State 71
Results | GoZips story
Akron rebounded from a loss against Eastern Michigan last week with a win over their archrivals.

Kansas State 3-0, Tulsa 2-1, UMKC 1-2, Oklahoma State 0-3
Results | KStateSports story
This was scored as six separate dual meets between the four participating teams. Olympic medalist Erik Kynard cleared 2.29 meters (7′ 6″), which I believe to be the best ever in an indoor dual/tri/quad meet.

Navy 157, Temple 94, Delaware State 84
Results | NavySports story
Navy is undefeated so far this year. In just two weeks they compete in their most important meet of the indoor season, the dual meet with Army.

Dartmouth 77, Yale 59, Columbia 42
Results | DartmouthSports story

Penn 181, Monmouth 168, Lehigh 127, Winthrop 72
Results | PennAthletics story
This meet is called the “Angry Bird Invitational”. I bet the t-shirts sold well.

Montana State 92, Montana 52; Montana State 99, Idaho State 45; Montana 73, Idaho State 62
Results | MSUBobcats story

New Hampshire 120, Holy Cross 61
Results | UNHWildcats story

Vermont 96, Middlebury 56
Results | UVMAthletics story

Women

LSU 107½, Texas A&M 103½, Arkansas 103
Results | LSUSports story | Flotrack coverage
This was a tight meet, and while I haven’t looked at the numbers yet I could imagine these three teams going 1-2-3 in next week’s dual meet rankings. Arkansas’ Sandi Morris set what I believe to be an indoor dual meet record in the pole vault with a 4.31m clearance.

LSU’s indoor dual schedule is one-and-done, so they’re in the driver’s seat for #1 in the final indoor rankings. What about for the big prize, the combined indoor/outdoor ranking?

The Tigers would probably take the season-long dual meet championship if two things happen. One is winning their lone outdoor meet of this type, a triangular with UCLA and TCU (aka “the alphabet soup championship”). The other is Texas A&M beating Oregon when those two meet at the Pepsi Team Invitational quadrangular. If the Ducks win that one, then it mostly comes down to who has the better marks—a contest that a few otehr teams could win too, most notably Nebraska.

Indiana State 82, Purdue 79
Results | GoSycamores story
Purdue came out on the short end for the second time in two weeks; the total margin of loss is five points in those two meets. Indiana State was without star thrower Felisha Johnson, who was out ill (presumably with the flu bug that’s been going around these parts).

Notre Dame 193, Michigan State 157, South Florida 130, DePaul 66
Results | UND.com story
Notre Dame will probably rate very highly when the next women’s rankings come out in one week. The name “Barber” was everywhere in this meet, as twin sisters Jade and Kaila were responsible for 41 of the Fighting Irish’s points.

Dartmouth 76, Columbia 60, Yale 45
Results | DartmouthSports story
Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino ran the 1000 meters in a nice 2:45.42, winning by nearly fifteen seconds—which would be almost half a lap at Yale’s Coxe Cage. Remember, not only is she a defending NCAA champion, but was only about a stride away from making last year’s Olympic team.

Kent State 89, Akron 62
Results

Kansas State 3-0, Oklahoma State 2-0, UMKC 1-2, Tulsa 0-3
Results | KStateSports story

Monmouth 175½, Penn 170, Lehigh 137, Winthrop 76½
Results | GoMUHawks story

Montana State 82, Montana 66; Montana State 79½, Idaho State 70½; Idaho State 77, Montana 73
Results | MSUBobcats story

Holy Cross 94, New Hampshire 87
Results | GoHolyCross story

Vermont 99½, Middlebury 37½
Results | UVMAthletics story

This Week’s Meets

Saturday

Montana, Idaho & Utah State at Washington State
2:30 pm local (5:30 ET) on Friday, 9 am local (noon ET) on Saturday
At WSU Indoor Track Facility, Pullman WA
Host website | Meet schedule | Preview

Detroit, Oakland and Valparaiso at IPFW
Field events at 11 am (ET), running events at 11:30 am
At Hilliard Gates Sportscenter, Fort Wayne IN
Host website | Meet schedule

Kent State and SIU-Edwardsville at Illinois State
Field events at 10 am local (11 am ET), running events at 10:30 am local
Both Kent State’s men’s and women’s teams are ranked in the top twenty, as are Illinois State’s women.
Host website | Meet schedule

Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan and Hillsdale at Grand Valley State
Field events at 1:00 pm ET, running events at 2:00
At the Kelly Family Sports Building, Allendale MI
This is an interesting matchup, with two D-II powerhouses going against a pair of good mid-major squads. It will also serve as an undercard of sorts to the Michigan-Michigan State meet listed below.
Host website | Meet schedule

Lafayette at Lehigh
Field events at 2:00 pm ET, running events at 3:30
At Rauch Fieldhouse, Bethlehem PA
Host website | Meet schedule

Michigan vs Michigan State
Field events at 6:00 pm ET, running events at 6:30
At the Kelly Family Sports Center, Allendale MI
This is a revival of a series last contested in 1982 (Michigan leads the men’s series, 19-2-1; this might be a first-ever matchup for the women). This is in neutral territory, well away from either campus, but still might draw well. Organizers are at least trying to treat it like a real sports event by assigned seating and selling higher-priced “track level” tickets.
Preview and schedule

Stat Corner

The progression of the dual meet record for the men’s shot put, beginning with Elmer Hackney’s 55′ 11″ for Kansas State against Kansas and Nebraska in 1939.

55′ 11″	Elmer Hackney (Kansas State)	Kansas & Nebraska at Kansas St	5/6/1939
56′ 10⅝”id	Charles Fonville (Michigan)	Ohio State at Michigan	2/21/1948
58′ 5″	Jim Fuchs (Yale)	Yale & Mich State at USC	4/29/1950
58′ 8¼”	Parry O’Brien (USC)	USC vs Cal	4/25/1953
60′ 3″	Bill Nieder (Kansas)	Kansas vs Oklahoma St	4/14/1956
63′ 6½”	Dallas Long (USC)	USC vs Oklahoma & Ariz St	4/8/1960
64′ 3½”	Dallas Long (USC)	USC vs Occidental	4/18/1961
67′ 11¼”	Randy Matson (Texas A&M)	Baylor, Texas & SMU at Tex A&M	4/9/1965
69′ ¾”	Randy Matson (Texas A&M)	Rice & Texas A&M at Texas	4/30/1965
71′ 5½ ”	Randy Matson (Texas A&M)	Baylor & Tex Tech at Texas A&M	4/22/1967

Note: Fonville’s 56′ 10⅝” stood as the Ohio State vs Michigan indoor meet record until four years ago.