Washington women drop one spot in latest USTFCCCA ranking index...
Despite strong marks from Katie Rainsberger, Melany Smart and Allie Schadler in the 3000 at the Husky Classic as well as pole vaulter Olivia Gruver's collegiate leading mark set at the Toyota USATF Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, they were overtaken by BYU for the number 11 mark, thanks to Whittni Orton's collegiate leading mark of 8:49.63 in the 3000 at the Husky Classic, as well as three top-20 marks set in the 800 at Husky Classic by their athletes.
Four teams from the Southeast Conference comprise the nation's top five women's teams in the latest index: LSU, Georgia, Arkansas, USC, and Texas A&M, with USC the lone school from the MPSF.
Other MPSF teams represented in the national top 25 in addition to USC, BYU, and Washington are: #7 Oregon, #10 Stanford, #13 Colorado, and #16 UCLA.
On the men's side, no schools from the state of Washington are represented in the top 25.
The nation's top five men's teams, according to the index are: Northern Arizona, LSU, Florida, Texas & Oregon.
Other teams from the MPSF conference in the top 25 include: #10 USC, and #22 Colorado.
The USTFCCCA rankings for this week and beyond only include marks set during the current season, while marks athletes achieved in prior seasons were factored in the pre-season index and in the first three weeks' rankings of the 2020 season.
The USTFCCCA rating index is available here.
STUFF WE MISSED...
We neglected to mention that Eastern Washington took their squad to Nampa, Idaho for the Bronco Challenge meet February 14-15th at Jacksons Track, hosted by Boise State University.
On Friday, Eastern senior Grant Shurtliff picked up a win in the long jump with a 22-7.25 (6.89m) leap, and junior Colton Kautz won the weight throw with a toss of 57-1 (17.40m). Also victorious was EWU's distance medley relay team with a time of 12:19.79. That squad consisted of sophomore Megan Pitzman and freshmen Faith Kennedy, Kaylin Sheley and Maddie Drennen.
Saturday, the Eagles got five more wins, highlighted by a pair of men's sprint titles for senior Jonah Mathews in the 60 meters (6.97 seconds) and junior Quintin Porterfield in the 200 (21.82). Porterfield's time was the sixth-fastest in school history, and the best in eight years for an Eagle.
Eastern's release and a link to the results are available here.
At Saturday's Husky Classic, we neglected to mention West Seattle HS grad Chloe Cunliffe's win in the pole vault, where she cleared 14-3.25 (4.35m).
NOTE: The USTFCCCA, and the sports information offices of Eastern Washington University, & the University of Washington contributed to this report.
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