With the 2022 NCATA National Championships just over a month away from April 28-30 in Eugene, Oregon, the association announced its first set of 2022 Championship Rankings on Wednesday afternoon.
 
This year’s championship will be hosted by the University of Oregon at Matthew Knights Arena in Eugene. The eight-team, single-elimination tournament will begin on Thursday, April 28 with four quarterfinal matchups. The semifinals are set for Friday evening, while the National Championship meet will be contested on Saturday evening. National individual event finals are scheduled for Saturday morning. Official meet times will be announced next month with the announcement of the 2022 tournament bracket.
 
The six-time defending national champion Baylor Bears topped the first set of championship rankings on Wednesday. The Bears are currently 5-0 on the season and have topped 280 in four of their five meets this season. Azusa Pacific, ranked No. 2 this week, is also 5-0 during the 2022 season. The Cougars have broke the 275-mark in each of their five meets this season, including a season-high 281.870 in their season opener. Gannon is currently third in the rankings with a 6-1 record, including wins over four teams that appear in the initial set of championship rankings. Quinnipiac and host Oregon round out the top five this week.
 
The bottom half of this week’s rankings include unbeaten Limestone at No. 6, followed by Converse and Hawaii Pacific at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively. King and Fairmont State round out the top 10 of the initial rankings.
 
The NCATA championship committee considers the overall performance of teams throughout the season thus far and utilized the following criteria to consider team rankings: W/L record, head-to-head competition, strength of schedule, common opponents, average meet score, average meet start value, score differential (execution) and human elements.
 
Two more sets of regular season rankings will be released on March 30 and April 6. The 2022 championship field and at-large qualifiers for individual event finals will be released on Monday, April 11.
 
NCATA Championship Rankings #1 (March 23, 2022)
1. Baylor University
2. Azusa Pacific University
3. Gannon University
4. Quinnipiac University
5. University of Oregon
6. Limestone University
7. Converse University
8. Hawaii Pacific University
9. King University
10. Fairmont State University
 
* Top 8 teams in final ranking will qualify for 2022 NCATA National Championship Tournament
** Results as of 3/20/22 considered in this week’s rankings
*** Next set of rankings will be released on Wednesday, March 30, 2022