UW squads move up after Pac-12 championship performances; NCAA D2 field announced...

NEW ORLEANS--After strong performances at the final Pac-12 track and field championships in Boulder over the weekend, both University of Washington squads moved up in the USTFCCCA NCAA Division I National Track & Field Rating Index, released Tuesday.

The Washington men, fresh off defending their Pac-12 team title, moved up three spots in the rating index to number 21, while the women's squad, which finished fifth at the Pac-12s, leaped eight positions from 25 to 17.

Javelin thrower Chandler Ault, who got the Huskies off to a great start with his personal best and UW school record throw of 254-4 (77.51m) in the first round of the event Friday morning, moved up to number seven on the NCAA descending order list.

400 meter hurdlers Jonathan Frazier and Jonathan Birchman (Paul Merca photo) also put up national top-20 marks with their second and third place finish Sunday, running personal bests of 49.87 and 50.00, respectively.

The final national top 20 mark from the Pac-12s came from hammer thrower Jayden White, who threw a season best 225-4 (68.68m) to finish fifth.

There was some shuffling within the top five nationally, with Arkansas, who won the Southeast Conference over the weekend, moving four spots to number one.

The rest of the top five, in order, are: Florida, Alabama, Texas A&M, and LSU.

Pac-12 runner-up USC was the only team from the conference to make the top 25, dropping two spots to number eight.

Looking ahead to the 2025 season, Big Ten champion Nebraska is ranked number 7, while Minnesota is ranked number 19.

On the women's side, the Huskies, thanks to three new marks in the top 21 in the pole vault, moved from number 25 to number 17.

While freshman Hana Moll's 15-1 (4.60m) from the Mt. SAC Relays remains the top mark in NCAA D1, twin sister Amanda's second place finish mark of 14-10.25 (4.53m) behind Hana at Pac-12s moved her to number four on the NCAA descending order list.

2023 Pac-12 co-champs Nastassja Campbell, who finished third Sunday, moved to number 9 with her season best jump of 14-4.25 (4.38m, while Sara Borton also got a season best with her fifth place finish at 14-0.5 (4.28m), which is number 21 in the NCAA.

The nation's top five women's teams in the rating index are, in order: LSU, Arkansas, Pac-12 champs Oregon, Texas A&M, and Texas.

Pac-12 runner-up USC at number 14, and third place finisher UCLA at number 21 are the only other teams from the conference in the top 25.

Illinois, which finished fourth at the Big 10, is ranked mnumber 7. B1G runnerup Nebraska is ranked number 16, while conference champ Minnesota comes in at number 23.

The field for the NCAA First Round meets in Lexington, Kentucky and Fayetteville, Arkansas will be announced by the NCAA on Thursday, May 16th.

The USTFCCCA will release a pre-championship ranking next week, which reflects athletes who are actually competing in their events at the NCAA first round, as well as scratches.

The USTFCCCA release is available here.

NCAA ANNOUNCES DIVISION II QUALIFIERS...

The NCAA announced the qualifiers for the Division II championships that will be contested May 23-25 at Welch Stadium in Emporia, Kansas.

GNAC men's and women's team champions Western Washington will send a team of three women and one man to Kansas.

The trio making the trip are Marian Ledesma (800m), Ila Davis (steeple) and Ashley Reeck (steeple).

Ledesma ranks 16th in Division II with an 800 meters time of 2:08.94, and is fresh off her second straight GNAC title in the event. Davis ran the conference’s second-fastest steeple chase in 10:11.97, and is ranked fifth nationally. Reeck will join her teammate in the race, entering the championship meet ranked No. 18 with a time of 10:34.38.

Viking junior Jeret Gillingham will compete in the steeple at the NCAA D2s. Gillingham’s conference-record time of 8:45.40 ranked him fifth in Division II this year.

GNAC runner-ups Central Washington will send to Emporia junior E’lexis Hollis (photo courtesy GNAC), whose top time this spring of 11.35 seconds ranked her 10th in Division II.

Also representing the Wildcats are Emy Ntekpere in the high jump after recording the number 20 mark in Division II at 5-7.75 (1.72m). Teammate Lauryn McGough, who broke the GNAC indoor record in the pole vault, earned a spot in that event after clearing 13-1.75” (4.01m) to rank 14th in Division II.

Representing the Central Washington men at the national championships will be cross country All-American Johan Correa, who got himself into the 800 meters with a time of 1:49.71.

GNAC 5000m champion Annika Esvelt will represent Seattle Pacific in the event, entering the national meet ranked eleventh in D2 with a time of 16:18.94. Esvelt is also the conference’s lone representative in the 10,000 meters, with her season-best time of 33:41.59 ranking fourth in Division II.

Fellow Falcon Hannah Chang will join Esvelt in Kansas. She claimed the GNAC title in the 100-meter hurdles last week in Ellensburg, ranked number 20 with a time of 13.88.

The GNAC release is available here, while the NCAA release is available here.

CONFERENCE CHAMPS WRAPUP...

At the Atlantic Coast Conference championships in Atlanta, Woodinville native Olivia Markezich won the women's 5000 in 15:23.14, while twin sister Andrea was 15th in 16:18.42.  Olivia, the reigning NCAA champ in the steeple, has already qualified for the US Olympic Trials in her specialty, and owns the Olympic Games standard.

At the Western Athletic Conference championship meet in Orem, Utah which concluded Saturday, the Seattle University men's and women's squads finished last, scoring 10 points in the men's competition, and 13 in the women's team race.

Grad transfer Yonas Sauers finished second in the 10000, running 30:47.47, and eighth in the 5000 at 14:58.81. Their only other point came in the men's 4x100, where the Redhawks were eighth in 43.47.

Lillian Hargreaves and Azalea Groleau finished fourth and seventh in the women's 1500, running 4:35.52, and 4:38.66.

Heptathlete Livii Fetterley was sixth in her event with 4374 points, while triple jumper Manthita Wague was seventh at 38-4.75 (11.70m).  Their 4x100 relay finished eighth at 48.24.

Results of the Western Athletic Conference championships are available here.

NOTE: The USTFCCCA, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, Western Athletic Conference, and the sports information offices of the University of Washington, Seattle Pacific, Seattle University, and Western Washington contributed to this report.

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