Gainesville, FL - The University of Florida men’s track and field team, the two-time defending NCAA Indoor Champion, is ranked No. 1 in the 2012 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Poll, released Tuesday afternoon by the New Orleans-based organization.

DID YOU KNOW?
The Gator men’s track and field program is the third Florida squad to be named preseason No. 1 in the 2011-2012 season. The 2011 NCAA Champion women’s tennis team and the 2011 CWS runner-up baseball squad also earned preseason No. 1 rankings.

The Gator men won their second-straight NCAA crown in 2011, scoring 52 points at the national championships to home team Texas A&M’s 40.

The preseason national team computer rankings as calculated by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) projects the Gator men and the Oregon women as the early paper favorites based largely on performance bests from returners.

Led by 2011 USTFCCCA National Indoor Head Coach of the Year Mike Holloway, the Gator men return eight 2011 USTFCCCA Indoor All-Americans, while the women welcome back four 2011 USTFCCCA Indoor All-Americans to the track in 2012.

The Southeastern Conference reigns supreme on both the men’s and the women’s side of the 2012 conference index. The SEC and Big Ten each have six squads in the preseason top 25 among men’s squads, while the women’s side boasts three SEC programs in the preseason top 25.

Florida opens the 2012 indoor season at the Alabama Invitational in Birmingham, Ala. on January 14th before returning home to host the Gator Invite on January 22nd.

For all of the latest information on Florida track and field, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/trackfield or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow Florida track and field on Twitter at @GZTrackField or www.twitter.com/GZTrackField. You can also find the Gators on Facebook.

2012 USTFCCCA MEN’S PRESEASON POLL

Rank

School

Points

1

FLORIDA

150.54

2

Arkansas

149.44

3

LSU

130.87

4

Ohio State

86.42

5

Nebraska

82.09

6

Florida State

81.50

7

Stanford

76.51

8

Indiana

74.81

9

Arizona

74.80

10

Texas

72.28

11

Kansas State

69.82

12

Texas A&M

69.17

13

Wisconsin

64.25

14

BYU

62.40

15

Minnesota

59.95

16

Iowa

59.49

17

Oregon

53.63

18

Virginia Tech

53.56

19

Mississippi

49.60

20

Mississippi State

44.94

21

Georgia

42.57

22

Iona

39.88

23

Oklahoma

39.08

24

NC State

37.43

25

Northern Arizona

34.06

Men's Conference Index Top 10

Rank

Conference

Points

Top 25 Teams

1

SEC

611.56

6

2

Big Ten

525.89

6

3

Big 12

350.36

4

4

Pac-12

281.60

3

5

ACC

255.33

3

6

Big East

67.97

7

Big Sky

66.98

1

8

West Coast

62.40

1

9

Mountain West

59.06

10

MEAC

49.71

2012 USTFCCCA WOMEN’S PRESEASON POLL

Rank

School

Points

1

Oregon

200.25

2

LSU

142.63

3

Arkansas

124.93

4

Texas

112.27

5

Clemson

111.83

6

UCF

100.67

7

BYU

85.81

8

Texas Tech

70.09

9

Florida State

61.83

10

Arizona

59.78

11

Ohio State

57.99

12

Southern Illinois

57.69

13

Southern Miss

57.17

14

Georgia

53.38

15

Stony Brook

48.21

16

Arizona State

47.75

17

Texas A&M

47.71

18

Baylor

47.66

19

Michigan

45.21

20

Connecticut

44.24

21

Oklahoma

43.10

22

Villanova

40.02

23

Stanford

36.71

24

Georgetown

34.84

25

Nebraska

32.39

Women's Conference Index Top 10

Rank

Conference

Points

Top 25 Teams

1

SEC

446.14

3

2

Pac-12

420.28

4

3

Big 12

410.15

5

4

ACC

265.55

2

5

Big Ten

235.59

3

6

Conference USA

227.33

2

7

Big East

175.99

3

8

Missouri Valley

126.00

1

9

West Coast

96.13

1

10

Mountain West

71.31