UW and WSU both in Track & Field News final collegiate dual meet rankings...
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| Aaron Nelson of UW & Andrew Gonzales of WSU were named to the All-Dual Team by Jesse Squire of dailyrelay.com (photo by Paul Merca) |
With so much emphasis placed by teams to get athletes qualified for the conference championships, the dual meet was beginning to be a bit of a dinosaur in the collegiate track & field landscape
However, over the last few years, more and more schools are going back to scheduling duals as a way to get the alumni fan base back, and also as a way to spark more interest in a sport that quite frankly (at the collegiate level), is boring to watch unless you have some vested interest.
The "Bible of the Sport", Track & Field News, posted its national top 25 dual meet teams for the 2014 season, and both Washington and Washington State men's and women's teams are ranked.
In the men's dual meet rankings, the Huskies are ranked #6, while the Cougars are ranked #7.
The women's dual meet rankings saw Washington State take # 8 and the Dawgs take #23.
Cal was named the country's #1 men's dual meet team, while Oregon took the women's honors.
In addition to the dual meet rankings, Jesse Squire, who does the rankings for Track & Field News, and was kind enough to put out his dope sheet on this blog before the meet, ranked the Washington/Washington State dual in Pullman as his meet of the year.
He writes, "There were close meets, there were high-quality meets, there were great meets for one gender but not the other, and there were meets that both sides took seriously and laid it all out for the win. This year, none combined all of these factors quite like the annual 'Apple Cup', the Washington-Washington State dual."
He also picked his All-Dual team, putting together a roster of 32 athletes, all of whom competed in dual meets, with the aim of going three deep per event.
On the men's side, Washington's Aaron Nelson (3000/steeple), and Quinn Hale (javelin) were selected by Squire, and Washington State's Andrew Gonzales (steeple) got the nod. Oregon's Michael Berry from Rainier Beach HS (400/200 (alternate)/4x1/4x4) was selected as well.
Washington's Katie Flood was picked by Squire on the women's all-dual meet team in the 800 and 1500. Washington State's Mary Barnett was picked by Squire as the most valuable women's performer on a top-ten team for scoring in the shot put, discus, and hammer.
You can read Squire's men's rankings for Track & Field News here, and his women's rankings here.
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