Men’s track and field climbs to #1 in national rankings

SEATTLE – A week after the women’s track team hit an all-time high of #2 in the national rankings, the husky men’s track team climbed all the way up. For the first time in the program’s history, the USTFCCCA today ranked Washington #1 in its National Ratings Index. The men’s indoor track joins men’s soccer as the husky programs have ranked #1 so far in 2022-23.

The National Ratings Index assigns points to individual athletes and relay teams based on their 2023 season bests, with athletes higher in the lists receiving more points. Washington’s big weekend in Dempsey, which hosted the UW Invitational, put the Huskies in the lead for a leap.

After the Huskies at No. 1 is Texas Tech at No. 2, then Arkansas No. 3, Tennessee No. 4 and Georgia No. 5 complete the top-5.

Huskies up! Washington sits on the first issue of the @USTFCCCA DI Men’s Indoor Athletics Rankings. ?????

1? @UWTrack
2? @TexasTechTF
3? @RazorbackTF
4? @Vol_Track
5? @UGATrack

6?-2?5? https://t.co/mAKlyDsDy7#NCAATF pic.twitter.com/QVEVL5l4ix

— NCAA Track and Field (@NCAATrackField) January 30, 2023

head coach Andy Powell The team will be enjoying the successes of the past weekend and will not worry about rankings.

“It’s still early days and there are still a lot of teams that haven’t put their cards on the table yet and there will be more turnover,” Powell said. “We also have a couple of other events that will be crucial for us in the coming weeks. But holding the No 1 position is a stepping stone to playing a role in the national championships and that’s the end goal. “

The women’s Husky team fell to 15th this week despite posting the second-fastest mile in the NCAA this season Anna Gibson (4:37.03 in altitude converted to 4:31.00) and received the 800-meter time No. 6 Carley Thomas (2:03.64) and the seventh best pole vault distance of two vaulters Nastasia Campbell and Sara Borton (14-2 ¾). Sophie O’Sullivan also clocked the No. 10 3k time (9:03.91) and Marlena Preig finished 14th in the 800m (2:04.95).

Washington was previously ranked #2 during the 2008 season.

Propelling UW up the leaderboard was Friday night’s history-making mile, as eight Huskies broke the four-minute mile barrier. The top four huskies in this epic mile: Joe Waskom (3:51.90), Brian Fay (3:52.03), Nathan Green (3:52.76) and Kieran Lumb (3:53.83) now ranked 1-4 nationally in the mile, with Luke Houser (3:55.98) in ninth place.

Another big gain in Husky ranking points came from Cas Elliottwho broke the 800m school record in 1:47.22 and finished fourth nationally. Jacob Engler also rose to 10th nationally in the pole vault on Saturday, posting a PR of 18-1 ¼.