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Clemson’s Women Step into Top Three for First Time with New DI Rankings

With moving week just a week away, teams are expected to have major weekend around the country

February 7, 2012

NEW ORLEANS – As we near the halfway point of the collegiate indoor track & field season, the national-podium race is starting to heat up. While the top three men’s teams in the latest USTFCCCA National Team Rankings remained unchanged for the third-straight week, Clemson’s women made their first-ever appearance in the national top three.

For the nation’s women, No. 1 Oregon and No. 2 LSU are still among the elite. The Ducks sat idle last weekend while LSU finished third at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational. The winners of the women’s team title at the NBCI was now-No. 3 Clemson, who crushed the field with a 29-point victory over nearest challenger No. 7 BYU.

Clemson’s NCAA-podium hopes continue to grow as junior Stormy Kendrick clocked a collegiate-leading 60 meter time of 7.22 last weekend. Freshman Dezerea Bryant is in a tie for third among 60-meter times this season with a 7.25 showing a few weeks ago. In addition, junior Marlena Wesh currently has the collegiate-leading time in the 400 meters after blazing a 52.21 last weekend. Tigers Brianna Rollins and Bridgette Owens own co-leading spots in the collegiate ranks this season with a pair of 7.97 hurdle times. Throw in the nation’s leading 4x400 relay time of 3:34.97, and Clemson is poised for a run at the podium and more. Clemson last had a national top-four finish in 2001, finishing third during the indoor season.

Georgia leapt six spots to No. 13, helped by the performance of freshman Morgann Leleux in the pole vault. The Bulldog cleared 14-4½ (4.38m) in the vault – the second-best performance in the NCAA this season – and attempted a collegiate-record height of 14-11½ (4.56m) at Virginia Tech’s Elite Meet.

Kansas moved into the national top 25 for the first time this season, landing at No. 24. The move helped the Big 12 to a nation-leading seven schools in the top 25 among conferences. And, for the first time this year, the Big 12 (455.01) has a higher conference index than the SEC (454.21).

On the men’s side, there has been no change to the top seven squads – still No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 LSU, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Arizona, No. 6 Florida State, and No. 7 Stanford. Arkansas was idle this past weekend while Florida gained some ground on their SEC rivals. Omar Craddock (triple jump) and Kemal Mesic (shot put) produced collegiate-leading marks last weekend for the Gators.

Texas A&M continues to climb and are now at No. 8 after clocking the nation’s leading distance medley relay time (9:29.71) and winning the men’s team title at the NBCI. Henry Lelei was the hero for the Aggies as he anchored the DMR squad and won the Mile the next day.

Virginia Tech is in the top ten for the first time this season at No. 9 after Marcel Lomnicky and Alexander Ziegler captured the top two spots in the nation with 75-foot-plus marks in the weight throw.

The SEC continues to be the dominate conference on the men’s side, having all three teams in the nation’s top three and seven in the top 25. The Big Ten has six in the top 25.

Outside of the championship weekends, the second weekend in February traditionally is one of the strongest in collegiate indoor track & field for qualifying marks and out-of-conference competition. Beginning next week, national rankings will use only marks from the 2012 season (with the exception of combined events). The next round of computer rankings will be released on February 14.

The 2012 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held in Nampa, Idaho, on March 9-10.

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Tom Lewis

U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association

Communications Manager

1100 Poydras St., Suite 1750

New Orleans, LA 70163

(O) 504-599-8904 (F) 504-599-8909

Email: tom@ustfccca.org

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