April 1, 2009
College Station - With the initial outdoor rankings released this week, the Texas A&M track and field program finds both its women's and men's teams sporting No. 1 rankings.
The rankings, released by United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association, act as the preseason outdoor rankings. Starting April 8 the rankings will be updated on a weekly basis until early June.
Texas A&M women, who ranked No. 1 each week of the indoor season and finished second in team scoring at the NCAA Indoor Championships, is followed by Virginia Tech, Oregon, Tennessee, Penn State, LSU, USC, UCLA, Arizona State, and Michigan among the top10.
The men's list is topped by the Aggies, who are followed by Arkansas, Oregon, Florida State, LSU, Kentucky, Texas, Florida, Tennessee and Baylor among the top 10.
Initial rankings for the outdoor season combine performances from returning athletes who qualified for the NCAA Championships last season and recent regional qualifiers during the early portion of the outdoor season.
Both the A&M women and men had successful campaigns during the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The Aggie women finished third overall while the men placed fifth.
Already this outdoor season Texas A&M has recorded 33 regional qualifiers -- 20 for the women and 13 for the men. In addition the Aggies lead the collegiate list in both 4 x 100 relays with times of 43.67 and 39.32.
Lucas shares Big 12 Athlete of the Week honor
Irving, Texas - For the second consecutive week an Aggie sprinter was awarded Big 12 Athlete of the Week honors from the conference office.
Porscha Lucas, the current world leader in the 100 meters, shared the women's honor with Texas Tech's Patience Knight, who won the shot put and discus at the Abilene Christian Invitational.
Lucas won the 100 meters in 11.24 seconds at the Arizona State Invitational to lead an Aggie 1-2-3 sweep and currently is the World, American and Collegiate leader in the event. She also ran the second leg of the Texas A&M 4 x 100 relay, which won in 43.82 seconds. That time is the second fastest collegiate mark this season and is only behind the 43.67 the Aggies posted the previous week.
A&M sprinter Chris Dykes was selected for the men's honor the previous week.
Plans for this weekend have Lucas entered in the Invitational 100 at the Texas Relays as well as the 4 x 100. She won the University 100 at the 2008 Texas Relays in 11.20 seconds.