Men's track third in preseason poll

The Tennessee men’s track and field team begins the indoor season ranked third with 108.58 points in the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll released Thursday.

Florida State leads the rankings with 118.40 points and is followed by Washington’s 109.74. Tennessee leads six SEC schools in the top 25, including three in the top five and four in the first nine positions. Florida and LSU enter the season fourth and fifth, respectively, with 89.81 and 88.07 points. Arkansas is ninth with 64.71 points, while Georgia’s 53.96 points rank 16th. Auburn, ranked 22nd with 44.30 points, rounds out the SEC representation.

This poll marks the first using an updated scoring system to determine a team’s overall chances of making an impact at the national championship meet based on its athletes’ season-best marks. The scoring system for the teams is the sum of its individuals’ place on the descending order list and a weighed value of those performances based on the field. The scoring method is based on the latest NCAA performance list. The preseason rankings are based on last year’s final performance list minus all seniors.

Tennessee’s team score consists of 10 individual and two relay performances, tying the Vols with Florida, LSU and Arkansas for the most scoring performances in the nation. Twelve-time All-America Rubin Williams leads the Vols with his second-place standing in the 200-meter dash and seventh-place spot in the 60. Senior All-America Jangy Addy ranks third in the heptathlon and seventh in the 60 hurdles, and three-time All-America Evander Wells enters the season fifth in the 200 and 12th in the 60. Two-time All-America Michael Hogue ranks sixth in the pole vault.

Senior Matthieu Pritchett and sophomore Kyle Stevenson enter the season 18th and 25th, respectively, in the 60 one year after earning outdoor All-America honors as members of Tennessee’s 4x100 relay team. Junior Richard Wooten ranks 24th on the national list in the shot put. Tennessee’s distance medley relay team earned third-place points for the Vols, while the 4x400 relay team is 17th.

The complete poll can be found at USTFCCCA.com.

Tennessee returns to competition after the holiday break at the Virginia Tech Invitational, held Jan. 11-12 in Blacksburg, Va.