Both the men's and women's track and field programs have been stellar so far this season, and the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's (USTFCCCA) first set of rankings has reflected that.
In the first release of the weekly USTFCCCA Indoor Rankings, the Jumbo women landed No. 1 in Div. III, with the men coming in at No. 2 behind Augustana College (Ill.). The rankings are calculated on season performance to date in Nationals events, with coaches submitting their team's top two marks in each category.
"It's an actual ranking based on how your team might do in a dual meet," women's coach Kristen Morwick said.
On the women's side, Tufts received 132.35 points, checking in nearly five points ahead of second-ranked North Central College.
"[Five points is] basically taking a whole performance out of someone else's score," Morwick said. "You're not going to see a lot of differentiation between the different point totals — that's why I was really happy that we're this high this early."
The Jumbos have been helped by NCAA-qualifying performances from sophomore runner Stephanie McNamara and freshmen Dayorsha Collins in the high jump and Nakeisha Jones in the triple jump. Jones currently holds Div. III's best mark in the event this season.
The men, meanwhile, fell just .2 points out of first place behind performances from junior quad-captain Nick Welch in the 5,000-meter run, senior quad-captain James Bradley in the high jump and junior Jared Engelking in the pentathlon.
"The men are in the same boat," Morwick said. "They have a lot of strong individual athletes, but they also have a [deep overall] team … It's nice to see that both teams are ranked so high so early — I think that's kind of cool."
