As the 2023-2024 indoor track season is approaching, there are many teams to keep an eye on. Although all of these teams may compete in different conferences, these teams will be fighting for the biggest championship in college sports. The race to the NCAA trophy begins soon!
Division I
Women
For Division I women, the University of Texas was the 2023 number-one ranked team in the NCAA. Florida, Arkansas, Oregon, and LSU all made up the top five of the NCAA rankings last year. With Florida ranked second last year, they could have a chance of earning that number-one ranking as their team is very young and has a lot of returners. Arkansas is the reigning National Champion and will be tough to beat. Other schools to look for include Umass Lowell as they won all three conference championship meets during the 2022-2023 season. Umass Lowell has a very strong women's distance team with Mary-Kate Finn leading the pack as she is now the 2023 American East Cross Country Champion.
Men
In Division I for men, Texas Tech is the big team to look out for as they were ranked first in the NCAA rankings in 2023 last year. However, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida are close behind as they filled up the top 5 rankings for the NCAA last year. Arkansas swept the NCAAs last year, winning both the men's and women's titles. However, the Umass Lowell men's team is also looking good this year as they just won the American East Championships a few weeks ago. Umass Lowell brought home American East winners as Wouter Van den Akker started the race with a big lead and took the gold. This proves they have a very strong distance team but once the sprinters and field events are added, this team looks like it could be unstoppable during this upcoming season.
Division II
Women
Now moving on to Division II where Adams State University was ranked first last year and took home the National Championship with Minnesota State only being 1 point behind. Taking the next three sports are West Texas A&M, Azusa Pacific, and Winona State. All three of these teams have a great chance at the national title during the indoor track season this year.
Men
In Division II for men, Pittsburg State won NCAAs with 86 points. The second-ranked team was Adams State with 42.00 points, when looking at this big of a gap we can assume that Pittsburg State will be the team to beat going into this indoor track season. However, in 2022, West Texas A&M was ranked 1st with over a 40-point lead. Last year in the 2023 national rankings, they were ranked 4th along with Academy of Art and Missouri Southern State. Anything can happen in a year.
Division III
Women
Finally, in Division III for women, Wisconsin La Crosse won the National Title with 59.50 points but Washington University in St. Louis was not far behind with 54 points. The next four spots in the 2023 rankings go to Loras, John Hopkins, Mount Union, and Chicago. However, Tufts is looking like they could have a good chance this year as their women's team was very successful this cross country season.
Men
In Division III for men, Wisconsin La Crosse swept the 2023 NCAAs but MIT was not too far being with only a .5 of a difference. The competition between those two teams this season will be very interesting to watch. Loras, SUNY Geneseo, UW Oshkosh, and John Caroll will fill the next four spots in the ranking. However, Division III seems to have the most competition between teams as the top 11 teams only have a 15-point difference. This year it could be anyone's race!
