Superfan Daily: Men's Dual-Meet Rankings

Realizing that what makes for a good team in a one-on-one meet is often times much different than in a championship meet, Track and Field News for many years used to have a special ranking for college teams by their dual-meet competitiveness.  They abandoned this in the 1990s, because dual meets declined in popularity to the piont that they pretty much only existed in the Pac-10.  Things have reversed course these days, so I have brought back the dual meet rankings.

Back in December I posted some pre-season rankings, which bear some resemblance to these but not a lot.  The rankings below are based only on this season's efforts, so many teams who will rank highly in the future are absent from this ranking because they haven't yet gotten up to full gear.  Notables of that type include LSU, Georgia, and the entirety of the Pac-10.

For this reason, I'm only listing a top ten right now.  By the end of the season it will expand to the top 25.

Remember the rules for ranking:
a) only teams with a (scored!) dual, tri or quad on their schedules are eligible for ranking,
b) outdoor competition counts for more than indoor competition,
c) real meet results take precedence over theoretical meet results,
d) quality of defeated opponent(s) plays a role but a minor one

Men's Dual-Meet Rankings, January 18:
1.  Texas A&M (meets LSU on Saturday)
2. Arkansas (1-0, beat #5 Texas)
3.  Ohio State (1-0, beat Michigan)
4.  Indiana (1-0, beat Purdue)
5.  Texas (0-1, lost to #2 Arkansas)
6.  Iowa (1-0, beat Illinois)
7.  Akron (2-0, beat Temple and #10 Kent State)
8.  Nebraska
9.  BYU
10. Kent State (0-1, lost to #7 Akron)

Track on TV
Bud Greenspan's Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory, 6:00 AM Wednesday on Showtime Family Zone

News Links
Runner's World's Racing News has all the headlines.

Meet lineup announcements: The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix will have Nick Willis, Alan Webb and Lucas Verzbicas in the mile; Reese Hoffa will throw at two meets in Australia in February and March; the Millrose Games has signed on World Champions Chistian Cantwell (SP) and Fabiana Murer (PV).

More on the London Olympic Stadium situation: The Telegraph doesn't want Britain to look like a bunch of liars, and anyway it belongs to the public (who paid for it); a former London mayor is horrified; and Crystal Palace (the team, not the venue) has taken Tottenham by surprise.

Defending World Marathon Champion Abel Kirui will skip the Worlds this summer in favor of a World Record attempt in Berlin.

Could the Japanese catch the Kenyans in marathoning?