NCAA Track & Field Rankings Week 2: Arkansas Men Firmly On Top
NCAA Track & Field Rankings Week 2: Arkansas Men Firmly On Top
Week 2 of the 2024 FloTrack/TFRRS NCAA Indoor Track & Field rankings features a key transfer and some true freshmen moving up the rankings.
The Arkansas men and Florida women remain in their respective top spots in week 2 of the 2024 FloTrack/TFRRS NCAA Indoor Track & Field rankings.
The Razorback men were idle over the weekend, but that didn’t prevent the defending national champions from increasing their stranglehold on their No. 1 position. Arkansas announced that transfer Jordan Anthony, the 2023 NCAA 60m runner-up, was joining their roster, further bolstering their elite unit.
Sprinter Jordan Anthony joins Razorback Track & Field
— Arkansas Track & Field (@RazorbackTF) January 18, 2024
2023 NCAA Indoor Silver medalist | 60m
- Only freshman in final
2023 SEC Indoor Silver medalist | 60m
2022 USATF U20 Champion | 200m
2022 Nike Indoor Champion | 60m, 200m
link: https://t.co/ehU0nbR4P1 pic.twitter.com/sArG0ORwXc
Anthony, who is also a three-star wide receiver, ran for Kentucky in 2023 and subsequently transferred to Texas A&M for this past football season. Now he joins an already-loaded Arkansas track and field squad that features reigning individual NCAA champions Romaine Beckford (high jump) and Jaydon Hibbert (triple jump). Anthony has yet to compete in 2024, but he slots in at No. 3 in the men’s 60m rankings.
The USC men are newcomers this week to the top 10 rankings, as the Trojans check in at No. 7 after their strong showing on Saturday at the Ted Nelson Invite in College Station. The headliner was sophomore William Jones in the 400m, who beat previously top ranked Emmanuel Bynum of Tennessee head-to-head to post an NCAA-leading 45.90. Jones, the reigning PAC-12 400m champion, takes over the top spot in our 400m rankings this week.
The men’s 800m got more interesting over the weekend as defending indoor national champion Yusuf Bizimana of Texas posted an NCAA No. 1 of 1:46.47 in New Mexico. The senior from Great Britain may just have a challenger this season in the form of Georgetown true freshman Tinoda Matsatsa, the latter of which who took down Bizimana’s 1,000m NCAA record with a 2:18.05 performance at the Hokie Invitational. Bizimana ran 2:18.10 just one week prior on Jan. 13.
Yusuf Bizimana's 1:46.47 800m at the 2024 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational
Like the Arkansas men, the top ranked women’s squad, Florida, did not compete over the weekend. The Gators have a superstar in distance phenom Parker Valby, who is currently top ranked in the 5,000m and 3,000m. The Gators are also buoyed by two All-Americans in the shot put— UNLV transfer Rosa Santana and Alida Van Daalen. Neither have competed so far in 2024, but they finished third (Santana) and fourth (Van Daalen) at both NCAA indoor and outdoor in 2023.
The top individual performance of the weekend on the women’s side undoubtedly belonged to Texas Tech freshman Temitope Adeshina, who leapt 1.96m in the high jump at the Corky Classic in Lubbock to post an NCAA leader and the No. 9 collegiate mark all-time indoors. Adeshina broke the Nigerian national record, indoor and out, that had stood since 2016.
There she goes!! 1.96m (6-5) as Temitope adds onto her school record and NCAA lead. She also takes the world lead AND ties the No. 3 NCAA mark 👏 pic.twitter.com/2yd9ee1uo5
— Texas Tech Track & Field (@TexasTechTF) January 20, 2024
Adeshina slots in at No. 2 in the women’s high jump rankings behind defending NCAA champion Lamara Distin of Texas A&M,