Posted: March 8, 2005

Athletics: Arkansas Stays No. 1 as Hogs Prepare for NCAA Championships

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The final Trackwire 25 rankings were released on Tuesday and Arkansas closed out the 2005 indoor campaign on top for the ninth-consecutive week. The Hogs will carry the confidence of knowing they have been ranked No. 1 for the entire season as they enter the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend. UA was given 55 points, while second-place Florida tallied 46.

There are four Southeastern Conference teams ranked in the top 10. In addition to UA and UF, Auburn is tied in fourth place with Indiana. Each school was given 31 points. Defending national champion, LSU, netted 27 points for the No. 7 position.

Michigan moved up to third with 38 points. Oregon is at No. 6 with 29 and Arizona is eighth with 26 points. Texas maintained their No. 9 ranking with 24 points and Florida State rounded out the top 10 with 23 points.

The Trackwire 25 is a power ranking of NCAA Division I track and field teams. The rankings’ methodology takes into account a variety of statistical predictors and is intended to project the outcome of the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Arkansas’s 55-point total was based off the athletes and relays it has listed in Trackwire’s Dandy Dozen. Eight Razorback athletes and two relay teams were ranked among the top 12 collegiate athletes and teams in each NCAA event.

Sophomore Wallace Spearmon Jr., has consistently held the No. 1 spot in the 200 meters all year as the national outdoor champion and current world leader in the event with a time of 20.35. Senior Omar Brown is also listed in the 200 at No. 9 after he earned a new auto time of 20.79 at the Iowa State Last Chance Meet. After sitting out of the SEC Championships, junior Tyson Gay is at No. 4 in the 60 meters.

Sophomore transfer and two-time SEC Champion Peter Kosgei jumped up to the coveted top spot in the 5,000 meters and is second in the 3,000. Junior Josphat Boit joins Kosgei in the 5K in seventh.

Senior Terry Gatson has been improving his performances in the 400 meters at every meet and is listed as No. 10 in the event. In the mile run junior Said Ahmed is listed at No. 4 and is coming off a career-best time of 3:57.04 from last weekend.

Senior Jaanus Uudmae is the only Razorback ranked in a field event. He is third in the triple jump after he captured the SEC title in the event. His mark is also third on the NCAA descending order list.

Arkansas will also be putting strong relay teams on the track. The Hogs’ distance medley relay team has held steady in second place, behind defending NCAA champion Michigan. The 4x400-meter relay was placed in eighth.

Complete Trackwire 25 Ranking:
1. Arkansas      55
2. Florida           46
3. Michigan        38
4. Indiana          31
    Auburn           31
6. Oregon          29
7. LSU               27
8. Arizona          26
9. Texas            24
10. Florida State  23
11. Nebraska      22
      Wisconsin     22
13. Oklahoma     21
      Tennessee     21
15. Colorado State  19
      BYU             19
17. Texas Tech   17
      Kansas State 17
19. Ole Miss       15
20. UCLA           13
21. Arizona State  12
22. Virginia Tech   10
      South Carolina     10
      Texas A&M   8
      Baylor         8