July 5, 2005

BY MITCH SHERMAN
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Nebraska gained ground on Texas for the second straight year but still finished a distant second in the race for Big 12 Conference supremacy over the past 10 months. Missouri finished third in the all-sports rankings.

For the fourth straight year, the Longhorns placed first in the league's 2004-05 composite standings, compiled by The World-Herald. Texas scored 173 points, off one point from last season and 31 from its record-breaking pace of 2002-03. Nebraska scored 143.

The gap between Texas and Nebraska was the largest between any two positions. Missouri was third with 140 points, followed by Texas A&M (138) and Oklahoma (126).

The Big 12 Conference composite standings point totals for 2004-05:

School	Men's	Women's	Total
Texas	79	94	173
Nebraska	56	87	143
Missouri	62	78	140
Texas A&M	56	82	138
Oklahoma	74	52	136
Okla. St.	76	45	121
Baylor	41	74	115
Texas Tech	54	53	107
Kansas	45	57	102
Colorado	38	46	84
Iowa State	40	44	84
Kansas St.	26	39	65

Standings guidelines:

• The system awards 12 points for a first-place finish, 11 for second, 10 for third, etc.

• Regular-season standings are used for football, volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball, softball and tennis. Tournament scoring is used for cross country, wrestling, track and field, swimming, gymnastics and golf. In track and field, indoor and outdoor team scores are combined.

• Five bonus points are awarded to the conference-tournament winners in six major sports that also use standings to determine a regular-season champion. Bonus points awarded to: Oklahoma football, Texas A&M soccer, Oklahoma State men's basketball, Baylor women's basketball, Nebraska baseball and Texas softball.