Portugal's Marta Pen Freitas newest member of Seattle-based Brooks Beasts...

The Seattle-based Brooks Beasts announced Tuesday that Portuguese Olympian Marta Pen Freitas (left/photo by Paul Merca) is now the newest member of the team.

“We’re excited to welcome her to the team,” said Brooks sports marketing manager Steve DeKoker.

Pen Freitas competed for Portugal in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the 1,500-meter run, the same year she won the NCAA title in the 1,500 competing for Mississippi State University. Pen Freitas is a 5-time Portuguese national champion who also ran at the IAAF world track & field championships in London two years ago.

“Joining the Brooks Beasts is an honor to me. When visiting for the first time I really felt a big connection to Brooks’ values and mission, so being able to represent that means a lot to me,” said Pen Freitas.

“I'm very excited to be a part of a group of such talented and ambitious people. I truly believe that to grow, you have to challenge yourself and be surrounded by equally motivated people. When you put those people in such a prolific environment, the probability of achieving great things is really big.”

Last season, Pen Freitas finished sixth in the finals of the 1500 meters at the European Championships in Berlin and had a personal best in the 1500 of 4:03.99 at the Birmingham Diamond League meet, and a PR of 4:22.45 in the mile at the Berlin ISTAF meet.

UW AND CENTRAL WASHINGTON WOMEN IN USTFCCCA TOP 25 INDOOR RATING INDEX...

The USTFCCCA released Tuesday its first regular season NCAA Division I women’s indoor track & field rating index, with the University of Washington ranked number 12 entering this weekend’s meets.

The nation’s top five women’s squads are in order: Arkansas, Texas A&M, Texas, Georgia, and Florida State.

Teams from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation ranked in the top 25 include #7 USC, #10 Oregon, #17 Stanford, and #23 Colorado.

The Washington men are outside the national top 25 at #43.

The nation’s top five men’s teams are in order: Texas Tech, Florida, Florida State, Houston, and Georgia.

BYU (9), Stanford (13), Oregon (17), and Colorado (18) are the only men’s teams from the MPSF ranked in the top 25.

In Division II, the Central Washington women are the only team from the state to be ranked in the national top 25, with the Wildcats checking in at #12.

The nation’s top five women’s squads are in order: Grand Valley State, Adams State, Lincoln (Missouri), UC-Colorado Springs, and San Francisco State.

The USTFCCCA Division I release is available here, while the Division II rankings are available here.

NOTE:  Brooks Running, and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.