NEW ORLEANS – Following stellar back-to-back performances over the past two weekends, the Anderson University men's indoor track and field team is ranked seventh in the Southeast Region, while the women's squad is eighth in the season's first U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll, as released Tuesday afternoon.
The initial men's rankings featured five teams from the South Atlantic Conference, four from Conference Carolinas and one from the Peach Belt Conference. Limestone held the top spot, with Queens, Mount Olive, Barton and Wingate in the No. 2 through No. 5 slots. UNC Pembroke, the lone Peach Belt representative, held the sixth slot.
AU was seventh, with Carson-Newman, Lees-McRae and Coker rounding out the poll.
Junior Mason Hazel and senior Ben Boerma have posted the second and seventh-fastest times, respectively, in the Southeast Region in the men's 5,000 meters this season, while Boerma also owns the fourth-fastest mark in the mile run.
Sophomore Luke Rochester captured the sixth-highest pole vault effort with his performance at Wake Forest, while junior Christopher Burton notched the fourth-best time in the region in the 200 meters. Junior Rashod Monts has also claimed the region's eighth-best time in the 400 meters. The 4x400 relay squad (Monts, Sean Rikard, Caleb Stephenson and Brandon Kauer) posted the region's sixth-fastest time at last month's JDL College Kick-off Classic.
SAC teams captured three of the top four slots in the women's poll and five overall, with squads from Conference Carolinas garnering four berths. Queens tops the women's poll, while Wingate, Mount Olive and Lenoir-Rhyne occupy the second, third and fourth spots. Southern Wesleyan is No. 5, with Montevallo, Coker, Anderson, Limestone and Barton rounding out the top 10.
Freshman Morgan Bridges owns the second-fastest time in the Southeast Region in the women's 800 meters after her performance at Grand Valley State's Holiday Open in early December. Junior Haylee Love posted the third-fastest time in the women's mile run last weekend at Wake Forest, while Olivia Gardner captured the fifth-fastest time in the region in the mile.
The senior from Tarpon Springs, Fla., has also posted third-fastest time in the 5,000 meters and the fourth-best time in the 3,000 meters.
The 4x400 relay squad consisting of Bridges, Madison Seay, Bari Robinson and Emilee Edwards have posted the seventh-fastest time in the Southeast Region.
COMPLETE RANKINGS
