NEW ORLEANS - The Lincoln women's indoor track and field team has been deemed preseason favorites for the 2014 NCAA Division II season in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division II National Team Computer Rankings released Tuesday.
The Blue Tigers, who have claimed four NCAA indoor titles since 2004, topped the preseason rankings behind the strength of a nation-best six returning scorers from last year's team that finished second at the indoor championships.
Latoya King, the 60-meter champion in 2013, is the top returner for Lincoln.
This isn't the first time the Blue Tigers have been selected as preseason favorites. Lincoln was picked to finish first in the initial edition of the rankings in 2010 before going on to claim their most recent NCAA indoor title.
Lincoln is also one of three teams in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association to make the top 25. Central Missouri is ranked sixth and Missouri Southern is No. 21.
Grand Valley State is ranked second, while Adams State, Asland, and Johnson C. Smith round out the top five women's teams.
The Lincoln men, who return three individual scorers from the 2013 NCAA indoor championships, are ranked 19th.
A total of six MIAA teams were selected to the top 25 on the men's side, including Missouri Southern (11), Nebraska-Kearney (12), Pittsburg State (15), Central Missouri (17), Southwest Baptist (18) and Lincoln (19).
Saint Augustine is the favorite, while Adams State, Ashland, Grand Valley State, and Texas A&M-Kingsville round out the top five teams.
III
For the second time this season, Lincoln junior Nickeisha Beaumont has been selected as the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Women's Field Athlete of the Week.
The MIAA announced the award, which is voted upon by a select panel of conference sports information directors, on Tuesday afternoon.
Beaumont improved upon her NCAA Division II-leading mark in the long jump, winning the event at the Missouri Opener on Friday with a distance of 5.89 meters. The winning jump, which went .20 farther than her previous nation-leading mark of 5.69 meters, gave Beaumont the victory over 15 competitors, including two from host Division I Missouri.