NEW ORLEANS – Arkansas is the top ranked team in the NCAA South Central Region on the 2022 preseason region poll released by United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Tuesday.
The Razorbacks are ranked No. 1 in the South Central and followed by Rice, Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, Arkansas State, SMU, LSU, Abilene Christian, and New Orleans.
This year’s South Central Region meet will be held in College Station, Texas, on November 11. The top two teams from each of the nine regions will earn automatic berth into the NCAA Championships, which will be held on Nov. 19 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
In the South Region, Ole Miss ranks No. 1 ahead of Alabama, who is favored by SEC coaches for the league title, as three other SEC schools rank 4-5-6 with Tennessee, Florida, and Vanderbilt.
Teams competing in Thursday’s Cowboy Preview in Stillwater, Oklahoma, include Oklahoma State, the No. 1 team in the Midwest Region, along with Tulsa, SMU and Texas A&M.
The USTFCCCA preseason national poll will be released on Wednesday.
The top two teams ranked in the nine regions include:
| Great Lakes | Notre Dame, Michigan |
| Mid-Atlantic | Georgetown, West Virginia |
| Midwest | Oklahoma State, Illinois |
| Mountain | New Mexico, Colorado |
| Northeast | Providence, Harvard |
| South | Ole Miss, Alabama |
| South Central | Arkansas, Rice |
| Southeast | NC State, North Carolina |
| West | Stanford, Washington |