Jayhawks Continue to Climb Rankings
Feb. 13, 2008
LAWRENCE, <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Kan. – Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams at the University of Kansas continue to climb the national rankings. The men moved up seven spots to number 22 while the women are the 18th-ranked team in the country as announced by the USTFCCCA on Wednesday.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
Led by senior Kate Sultanova’s automatic-qualifying pole vault of 4.30 meters (14 feet, 1 ¼ inches), the women moved up two spots in the rankings. Four other Jayhawks have met NCAA qualifying standards in five events. Senior Nickesha Anderson has provisionally qualified with school-record times in the 60-meter dash (7.28) and the 200-meter dash (23.75). Senior Crystal Manning has provisionally qualified in the triple jump while juniors Zlata Tarasova and Stephanie Horton have provisional marks in the weight throw and shot put, respectively.
The men leaped up in the rankings after all three of their NCAA qualifiers improved their marks last week at the prestigious New Balance Collegiate Invitational. Senior Julius Jiles has provisionally qualified in the 60-meter hurdles while sophomore Jordan Scott and senior Egor Agafonov each posted NCAA auto-qualifying marks at the meet in New York, N.Y.
Jiles ran a season-best 7.88, ranking him third in the Big 12. Agafonov leads the nation in the weight throw after a toss of 22.13 meters (72-07 ¼ ft.) and Scott matched the nation’s leading height at the time after he set a new personal high-water mark with a vault of 5.50 meters (18-00 ½ ft.).
The Jayhawks will spread across the country this week in order to have the best opportunities to continue improving upon their marks. Many of the distance runners will be in Ames, Iowa for the ISU Classic though some will also be running in Seattle, Wash. at the Husky Classic. Most of the sprinters and field athletes will be heading to Fayetteville, Ark., the home of the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships, for the Tyson Invitational. Keep up-to-date with all the KU athletes this weekend at www.kuathletics.com.
About the USTFCCCA Rankings
The 2008 USTFCCCA Rankings for NCAA Division I squads were devised and are compiled by Tom Lewis of the University of Missouri. Each team is assigned “power points” based on each individual performance on the official NCAA-qualifying list. For the indoor season, spots one through 35 in each event on the national-descending order list receive points based on its position in the national rankings. Additional power points are assigned to each performance based on comparisons with the rest of the field in that event.
Rankings for the indoor season are released each Wednesday. A complete rundown of the ranking method and a team-by-team breakdown can be found at ustfccca.org.
Kansas Week-By-Week in the USTFCCCA Rankings
Week: Pre 1 2 3
Men 11 — 29 22
Women 27 18 20 18
