2023 NAIA Women’s Indoor Track & Field Rating Index – Week 4
NEW ORLEANS – It is officially championship season among the NAIA ranks, with the national championships just three weeks away.
Indiana Tech continues to be ranked at the top of the NAIA Women’s Indoor Track & Field National Rating Index, as they have all four weeks this season. William Carey (Miss.) remains at No. 2 for the second week in a row with Huntington (Ind.) and Concordia (Neb.) at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. However, the rankings have a new lease on Life (Ga.), as the Running Eagles moved up three spots to No. 5 to enter the top-5 of the rankings for the first time this season.
Only performances from the current indoor track and field season have been used in this objective compilation.
NAIA — Women's Indoor Track & Field
This Week's National Top Five
1
Indiana Tech
Indiana Tech
2
William Carey (Miss.)
William Carey (Miss.)
3
Huntington (Ind.)
Huntington (Ind.)
4
Concordia (Neb.)
Concordia (Neb.)
5
Life (Ga.)
Life (Ga.)
All TFRI Reports
Indiana Tech: The Warriors continue to sit atop the mountain, led by three national-leading performances, up two from last week. Juanita Webster-Freeman built upon her NAIA-leading pentathlon that she set last week, as she turned in a national-leading performance in the shot put (14.97m/49-1½) at the GVSU Big Meet this past weekend. She also turned in a solid performance in the 60-meter hurdles at the same meet, as her time of 8.67 seconds ranks her eighth in the NAIA in that event. The Warriors also got an NAIA No. 1 performance from their DMR squad of Lisa Voyles, Krista Boese, Kayla Moody and Lily Greiwe, at 11:51.65. Voyles ranks second in the NAIA in four other events, one of which she turned in this weekend, thanks to her second-ranked 800-meter effort of 2:08.21.
William Carey (Miss.): The Crusaders held steady as they remained at the No. 2 spot in the NAIA Women’s TFRI, as they were propelled by 14 top-10 performances (three more than last week) and four top ranked performances (up two from last week). At the SSAC Conference Championships this past weekend, they were led by top-ranked performances by Machaeda Linton in the long jump (5.91m/19-4¾), Salieci Myles in the 60m hurdles (8.35), Joy Abu in the 400 meters (55.16), and Lina May in the 5000 meters (16.53.68). May also turned in a 3rd-ranked 3000-meter effort of 9:48.08 at the same meet, while Abu made another significant contribution by running the anchor leg on her 4x400m relay team that currently ranks 3rd (3.50.33).
Huntington (Ind.): The Foresters moved up a spot to No. 3 this week, thanks in part to none other than Addy Wiley, who built upon her five top-ranked performances with another highly-ranked performance of her own, as she anchored her now 3rd-ranked DMR team to a time of 11.57.92 at the GVSU Big Meet over the weekend. Rounding out the Foresters’ national-leading seven top-ranked efforts so far this season are Destiny Copeland in the triple jump (5.87m/40-9½), and Erica Xayarath in the high jump (1.71m/5-7¼).
Concordia (Neb.): As was the case last week, the Bulldogs dropped one spot in the rankings, taking up residence at No. 4. Of the six top-10 performances that the team has turned in so far this season, two of them took place at the Concordia Indoor this weekend on their home track. Hannah Newton’s high jump performance of 1.67m (5-5¾) is good for fourth in the NAIA, and Erin Mapson’s pole vault leap of 3.77m (12-4½) ranks her seventh. The Bulldogs continue to be led in part by Rylee Haecker’s 3rd-ranked mark in the 1000m (2:56.44).
Life (Ga.): Led by seven performances that have cracked the top-10 so far this season, the Running Eagles make their first appearance in the top-5 this week. While none of those performances happened to take place this past weekend, they do have several athletes with solid performances to their name, led by Talayla Davis’ No. 1 standard of 7.42 in the 60m. She also ranks fourth in the 200m (24.54). Three of their athletes that ran on their fifth-ranked 4×400 team (3:52.56) are also ranked in the top ten in another event, as Maya Smith-Speed is ranked sixth in the 200m (24.66), and Sabrina Richman is ranked sixth in the 400m (56.65), one spot below her teammate, Brianna Florvilus, who is ranked fifth (55.57).
Rounding out the top-10 this week are Milligan (Tenn.) at No. 6, Central Methodist (Mo.) at No. 7, Hastings (Neb.) at No. 8, Cornerstone (Mich.) coming in at No. 9, and Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) landing at No. 10.
We are just three weeks away from the 2023 NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships, which will take place March 2-4 at the Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex in Brookings, South Dakota.
Zach Austin is an intern for USTFCCCA, and a communications major at Dickinson State University, where he is a member of the cross country and track teams. He can be found on Twitter at @ZDollas_, and on Instagram at @zdollas_gang. He can also be reached by email at [email protected].
