Track Teams Jump Up in National Rankings | Week 5
Findlay, OH – In week five of the USTFCCCA rankings, the University of Findlay men's and women's track and field team each moved up in the top-25 national rankings. The women have jumped two spots to number nine in the country while the men, who were unranked a week ago, are now sitting in 20th. Along with these national rankings, the Oilers women are ranked second in the Midwest region while the men are eighth. In the men's and women's top-25 rankings, the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) has a combined eight teams, the most of any Division II conference in the country.
Women
Junior Erica King, who earned GLIAC Field Athlete of the Week this week, turned in a great performance at the Border Battle in Hillsdale, MI last weekend and is now the only Oilers' track and field athlete to have an automatic bid to the national championship meet in May. She set a new personal record in the hammer throw with a heave of 196'3". King's throw took first place in the event and gives her the second-best throw in the nation this season. Not far behind in the hammer throw is junior Liz Streacker whose top performance was a distance of 189'4" at the All-Ohio Championships. That throw is still sixth best in the country this year.
Senior Lydia Guagenti's performance at the Raleigh Relays is her best this season as she reach a height of 5'8.75", which is still the second-best jump in the country this season and one inch shy of her personal best.
Sophomore Alex DeVincentis' shot put performance at the Wake Forest Open on March 18 is still good for fourth in the country. That heave measured 49'10.5". DeVincentis added to her stellar 2016 season with her performance at the All-Ohio Championships on April 8. In the discus, the Oilers' sophomore threw a distance of 162'4", the third-best throw in Division II this season and also a personal record.
Cracking the top ten in the country in the 4x100 relay is the group of freshman Symphony Cooke, senior Maud Sanmiquel, sophomore Milani Glass, and freshman Madison Stechshulte. Their time of 46.21 from the Border Battle is good for eighth in the nation in the event. At the same meet, Glass finished the 100 meter hurdles in a time of 14.02, 13th in the nation this year while Sanmiquel ran a 14.11, 18th in the nation.
Men
After falling out of the top-25 last week, the men are back in the national rankings following the Border Battle.
The best performance of the weekend came from junior Trey Everett who took first place in the high jump with a height of 6'11", the third highest mark in the country this year. That mark also set a new personal record.
Junior Ben Hahler also had a great performance, turning in a throw in the shot put that distanced 58'8.5", the fifth best in the country.
Senior Michael Bruce is still ranked second in the country in the triple jump from his performance at the Raleigh Relays on March 25. That jump measured 51'7.75".
Both teams will compete next at the Jesse Owens Classic in Columbus, Ohio on the campus of Ohio State University. That meet will run Friday and Saturday, April 22-23.