April 8, 2003

COLUMBIA, S.C. –
In the first Trackwire.com poll for the 2003 Outdoor Track and Field season, the Gamecock women have been picked as the top team in the nation while the men are ranked eighth. The South Carolina women’s team is currently in pursuit of defending its outdoor national title. On the women’s side, six Southeastern Conference teams are ranked in the Top 25. On the men’s side, eight SEC teams are ranked in the Top 25, four of which hold the top four spots with Auburn taking the top ranking.

The Trackwire 25 projects a hypothetical score for the NCAA meet, factoring in injury reports and other variables supported by information gathered from coaches and NCAA-qualfying competitions across the country. This projection is generated by scoring the Dandy Dozen, a power ranking of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each NCAA event.

The women’s team has seven athletes in six events ranked in the Dandy Dozen, as well as both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. On the men’s side, Carolina has six athletes in four events in the Dandy Dozen, and also has the 4x100m and 4x400m relays ranked.

Women’s Rankings
Rank. Team Score
1 South Carolina 68
2 LSU 61
3 Texas 49
4 USC 41
5 North Carolina 39
6 Florida 33
7 UCLA 31
8 Yale 26
9 Arkansas 25
? Indiana 25
11 Auburn 24
12 BYU 23
13 Cal Poly 21
14 Nebraska 20
? Stanford 20
16 SMU 18
17 Georgia 16
? Oregon 16
? Rice 16
20 Florida State 15
21 North Carolina State 14
? Washington State 14
23 Northern Arizona 12
? Arizona 12
25 Miami 11

Men’s Rankings
Rank. Team Score
1 Auburn 50
2 LSU 48
3 Arkansas 46
4 Mississippi State 44
5 USC 39
6 Nebraska 37
7 Tennessee 32
8 South Carolina 30
9 SMU 25
10 Eastern Michigan 24
11 Oregon 23
12 Stanford 20
? Georgia 20
14 Texas 19
15 Minnesota 17
16 UTEP 16
17 TCU 14
? Florida 14
? Texas Tech 14
20 Michigan 13
21 Indiana 12
? Missouri 12
? North Carolina 12
? Iona 12
25 Seton Hall 11
? Purdue 11
? Colorado State 11
? Pennsylvania 11