May 07, 2008
Updated rankings from the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association have the Texas A&M returning to the No. 1 status they held during the first two ranking periods of the outdoor season. Meanwhile, the Aggie women maintain the No. 3 ranking they?â„¢ve held for the entire outdoor season.
NCAA formcharts compiled by Track & Field News magazine moved the A&M men up to third place with a predicted total of 39 points in the NCAA Championship meet behind Florida State (54) and LSU (52). The Aggie women also remained locked into the third place position in T&FN?â„¢s formchart with a predicted total of 46 points in the NCAA meet behind LSU (63) and Arizona State (48).
Part of the reason for the climb up in the rankings and formchart for the Texas A&M men was the 20.62 time recorded by Aggie freshman Gerald Phiri at the Houston Invitational this past weekend. In his first outdoor 200 meters of the season Phiri broke the Zambian national record of 20.77 set in 1994 by Clifton Bufuku. Phiri currently ranks eighth on the NCAA list in the 200 and is seventh in the 100 with a personal best of 10.20.
A couple of other factors included the win by Chad Brown in the javelin as he became the third Aggie to qualify for the NCAA regional meet in that event. Also Cade Liverman produced a wind-aided 13.93 clocking in the 110 hurdles.
Event formcharts by T&FN have Phiri placing fifth in the 100 and seventh in the 200. Currently Phiri is the only freshman predicted to score in either sprint race at the NCAA meet by the magazine.
The Aggie men have 260.93 points in the USTFCCCA rankings, placing them ahead of Florida (248.00), LSU (247.82), Florida State (240.73) and USC (206.67). The rest of the top 10 includes Arizona State (203.55), UCLA (185.52), UTEP (170.25), Auburn (168.64), and Texas (165.69).
Arizona State reclaimed the No. 1 position in the USTFCCCA women?â„¢s rankings, holding a slim edge (326.16 to 321.69) over LSU. Texas A&M women remain third with a total of 268.22 to stay ahead of USC (232.22), UCLA (211.25), Virginia Tech (207.77), Texas Tech (204.83), Stanford (163.44), Minnesota (147.53) and Minnesota (147.53).
The next meet for the Aggies is the Big 12 Championships, which take place May 16 through May 18, in Boulder, Colorado.