Vikings and Falcons ranked by USTFCCCA in top 20 after qualifying for nationals...
NEW ORLEANS—Western Washington and Seattle Pacific (above/photo by Paul Merca) are ranked in the final USTFCCCA Division II national coaches’ poll released Wednesday after qualifying for the NCAA national championships over the weekend.
The Vikings, who were ranked #13 in the last poll released before the regional championship meet, moved five spots to #8 after finishing second at the NCAA regionals last week in Monmouth, Oregon, while Seattle Pacific which had a sub-par team race at the GNAC meet in Bellingham and dropped out of the top 25, bounced back in the eyes of the voting members to rank #20 after taking the fifth and final spot to nationals, edging out Central Washington by five points.
The country’s top five women’s teams are Grand Valley State, Adams State, Hillsdale, Chico State, and Western State.
The only other team from the GNAC ranked is Alaska Anchorage at #12.
In the men’s poll, Alaska Anchorage at #3 and Simon Fraser at #15 are the only two teams from the GNAC that are ranked in the top 25.
The NCAA Division II championships will be contested on November 21 in Joplin, Missouri.
FLANAGAN’S PAN AM BRONZE UPGRADED TO SILVER?
University of Washington alum Lindsay Flanagan (left/photo courtesy University of Washington) finished third in the Pan Am Games marathon back in July in Toronto, as she ran 2:36:30 in only her second race at that distance.
However, according to a note posted in the December 2015 issue of Track & Field News, Gladys Tejada of Peru, who won the race in a personal best 2:33:03, tested positive for a diuretic afterwards.
Pending whatever official actions necessary from either the Peruvian federation and/or the IAAF, Flanagan would be upgraded to silver, with Adriana Da Silva of Brazil getting the victory in 2:35:40, and Rachel Hannah of Canada bumped up to third in 2:41:06.
According to Track & Field News, Tejada is provisionally suspended, pending official action after a positive result.
During her time at the University of Washington, she competed in three NCAA cross country championships, and was a second-team All-American in the 10000 in 2014. She is currently training for the 2016 US Olympic marathon trials in Los Angeles in February.
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