Today's best links: Chelsea Orr, USTFCCCA rankings & Ali Worthen...

University of Washington freshman Chelsea Orr (left/photo by Paul Merca) is featured in a Q & A piece on gohuskies.com in which she talks about being one of only two local freshmen on the number one ranked recruiting class that included 2009 Foot Locker and Nike Cross Nationals champs Megan Goethals and Katie Flood, and the adjustment she's had to make coming from Eastlake High School to the UW.

She cites being called out by UW coach Greg Metcalf during the fall for "being such a wuss", a workout during the winter at Magnuson Park where she was able to keep up with the teams' top runners, and an overall commitment to the team.

"If I wanted to be a part of his team I needed to be completely committed and start getting my act together. I was really focused during winter break, and wanted to improve. I was definitely surprised by how much I've improved because it was much better than my cross country season; it was such a significant change."

That change led her to running the fastest time indoors by a Husky this season in the mile of 4:44.63, plus a 9:26.73 time over 3000, a seventh place finish at the USA junior cross country championships in San Diego, and a victory in the NACAC junior cross country championships in Trinidad.

She's currently planning to redshirt the spring outdoor track season after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in her right femur.

You can read the full story here…

The USTFCCCA Division I men's and women's rankings were released Tuesday, and Washington State's women's team is ranked #18 in the country, after being ranked #22 in the outdoor pre-season poll.

The Washington men's team, ranked #21 in the pre-season poll, are out of the top 25 this week.

Florida’s men and Texas A&M’s women remain in the top spots, a place both teams held in the preseason. The LSU women took over the No. 2 spot from Oregon who moved down to No. 3.

You can see the USTFCCCA release here.

Finally, Seattle Pacific's Ali Worthen, who won two events and accounted for 31 of Seattle Pacific's 210 ½ points at the JD Shotwell Invitational last Saturday, was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference co-Athlete of the Week for women's track and field.

Worthen went a career-best 17 feet, 11 ½ inches (5.47 meters) to win the long jump – and did so despite having to jump into a significant wind. That was seven inches farther than her previous personal best, made her an automatic qualifier for the GNAC Championships in May, and leaves her just seven inches short of an NCAA Division II provisional qualifying standard.

Worthen started the day by winning the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 4 ½ inches (1.64 meters). She also finished second in the 100-meter hurdles and was sixth in the 200-meter dash. Her hurdles time of 15.03 seconds was a PR.

You can read the Seattle Pacific release here.

NOTE:  The University of Washington, the USTFCCCA, and Seattle Pacific University contributed to this report.