The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association released its initial indoor rankings for the 2026 season on January 27. Tennessee leads the Division I men's rankings, followed by Georgia and Kansas State. Illinois tops the women's Division I rankings for the third consecutive season.
The rankings, issued from New Orleans, highlight early season performances after initial meets. In Division I men's, Tennessee holds the No. 1 spot, with Georgia at No. 2 and Kansas State at No. 3 with 107.5 points. Texas Tech ranks fourth, the only other Big 12 team in the top 10, while Colorado sits 11th and BYU 12th. Kansas State's strong start came at the Thane Baker Invitational on January 16, hosted at the Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track. Freshman Alan Hanna's high jump of 7 feet, 4.5 inches co-leads the nation. The Wildcats have nine athletes in the top 50, including Selva Prabhu (No. 2 triple jump, 54 feet, 1.25 inches), Trevon Hamer (No. 3 triple jump, 53 feet, 10.5 inches; No. 29 60 meters, 6.65 seconds), Aaron Antoine (No. 4 triple jump), Jhavor Bennett (No. 21 triple jump), Gary Moore (No. 5 weight throw, 75 feet, 11 inches), and Kade McCall (No. 7 weight throw).
For Division I women, Illinois debuts at No. 1 for the third straight year, with the men at No. 9. The Illini women feature eight athletes with top-5 national marks, led by Sophia Beckmon's long jump of 6.81 meters (No. 1) and Lucie Kienast's pentathlon score of 4,337 points (No. 1). Other standouts include JaiCieonna Gero-Holt (No. 2 pentathlon, 4,250 points; No. 10 high jump, 1.84 meters), Mia Morello (No. 2 pole vault, 4.50 meters), and Romi Tamir (No. 2 triple jump, 13.50 meters). On the men's side, Luuk Pelkmans leads with a heptathlon score of 6,151 points (No. 1, school record), followed by Jip de Greef (No. 3, 6,019 points) and Cody Johnston (No. 7 pole vault, 5.62 meters).
Other notable rankings include Penn State men at No. 8 and women at No. 31, Ole Miss men at No. 7 and women at No. 21, and Minnesota women at No. 22. In Division II, Pittsburg State women rank No. 1 and men No. 2. Kansas State hosts the DeLoss Dodds Invitational on Friday to build on their position.
