Vikings move up in national men's poll after GNAC victory...
NEW ORLEANS--The Western Washington men's cross country team (photo courtesy GNAC), fresh off their victory at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship in Monmouth, Oregon last Saturday, are ranked number 17 in the latest USTFCCCA national coaches' poll, released Wednesday.
Their victory moved them up two spots in the poll, and are the only team from the GNAC ranked nationally, as Simon Fraser dropped out of the national top 30.
Colorado School of Mines, Adams State, Grand Valley State, Wingate, and Chico State, who the Vikings will see next weekend at the NCAA D2 West Regionals in Billings, Montana, are the nation's top five men's teams.
Despite winning the conference championship on the women's side, Western Washington did not convince the voters to place them in the national top 30, so no GNAC teams are ranked.
The women's top five teams are in order: Adams State, Grand Valley State, Colorado School of Mines, UC-Colorado Springs, and Augustana of South Dakota.
The next poll will be released on November 23rd, after regionals weekend.
The NCAA Division II championships will be contested December 2nd at Chambers Creek Regional Park in University Place, south of Tacoma.
IN OTHER NEWS...
A significant development occurred over the last few days, as USA Track & Field and the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced that Orlando, Florida will host the 2024 US Olympic Marathon Team Trials on February 3, 2024.
The top three female and male place finishers in the Olympic Trials who have met qualifying performance standards will self-select for the 2024 USATF Olympic squad.
“We look forward to a fantastic marathon on the streets of Orlando in selecting USATF’s first six 2024 Olympians,” said USATF CEO Max Siegel. “The competition is the culmination of months of preparation on their Journeys to Gold and we’re excited to see great competition and fast times.”
The standards to enter the trials were announced earlier. They are 2:18:00 and 1:03:00 in the half marathon for men, and 2:37:00 and 1:12:00 in the half for women.
World Athletics has yet to announce the standards for the Paris Olympics. The standards for the Tokyo Olympics were 2:11:30 for men and 2:29:30 for women. The standards for next year's world championships in Budapest are 2:09:40 (m) and 2:28:00 (w), so the projected standards will be around 2:09:00 and 2:27:30 or so. As has been the case, World Athletics can fill the field based on its ranking system.
In Sunday's TCS New York City Marathon, Washington alum Lindsay Flanagan finished eleventh in 2:29:28, as Kansas alum Sharon Lokedi of Kenya won in 2:23:23.
Fellow Husky Mel Lawrence finished in 2:49:45, and 2012 Norwegian Olympian Ingvill Måkestad Bovin crossed the line in 2:56:46. Former Washington State cross country team captain and current CNN anchor Ana Cabrera finished in 2:57:11.
The day before, Washington alum Eleanor Fulton finished seventh in the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5k from the United Nations to Central Park.
The race also served as the USATF national championship over the 5k road distance.
Fulton finished with a time of 15:39.
Current Husky Kayley DeLay finished 13th in 15:56. DeLay, who was a cross country All-American at Yale last year, and second at the NCAA championships in the steeplechase, has no cross country eligibility, but will run for Washington as a grad student indoors and outdoors.
New Mexico alum Weini Kelati defended her title from last year, running 15:16.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA, USA Track & Field, and the New York Road Runners contributed to this report.
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