South Carolina Improves 19 Spots to No. 8 in Women’s Indoor Track Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – For the past two weeks South Carolina Gamecocks were not ranked in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association women’s Division I Indoor Track & Field Top 25.  This week, however, the Gamecocks improved 19 spots to No. 8 to crack the top ten for the first time this year.

South Carolina was led by sophomore sprinters LaKya Brookins and Shayla Mahan who improved their 60 meter dash times to Nos. 3 and 5 respectively on the national descending order list.  South Carolina also got a big boost I points from its 4×400 meter relay team, which raced to a national leading time of three minutes, 33.50 seconds. 

No. 1 Texas A&M and No. 2 Tennessee remained unchanged for the second consecutive week.  A&M won its third straight women’s Big 12 Championship, while Tennessee won its third SEC Championship in five years.

LSU moved up six spots to No. 3 this week following the Lady Tigers’ second place finish at the SEC Championships.  No. 4 Florida State also improved a couple spots in the rankings following its ACC Championship win. 

Oregon dropped two spots to No. 5 this week, followed by sixth-ranked Michigan and seventh-ranked Virginia Tech. 

Penn State follows South Carolina at No. 9 in the rankings with Clemson coming in at No. 10.  Clemson was not previously ranked but improved its standing in the rankings with the help of pentathletes Liane Weber and Patricia Mamona, and jumper April Slinker.

The 2009 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held March 13-14 in College Station, Texas.

USTFCCCA Division I women’s indoor track and field rankings
March 4, 2009