NEW ORLEANS, La. -- The Montana Tech women's track & field team checked in 19th in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's weekly Track & Field Ratings Index, the organization announced Tuesday morning. 

It's the highest the Oredigger women have ever been ranked in the outdoor season. 

Tech jumped 11 spots from the previous week's No. 30 rating thanks to a handful of phenomenal performances at the Trudnowski Open in Helena. Senior Abby Clark highlighted the meet with her fourth-consecutive Frontier Conference heptathlon championship. Her 4,902 points in the multi event rank second in the NAIA and won Clark the league's field athlete of the week honor, also announced Tuesday. 

The Orediggers rank fourth in the USTFCCCA's #EventSquad rankings in the women's javelin, 23rd in the shot put, and 28th in the 1,500-meter run. The #EventSquad rankings tally season-best marks for a program's top four student-athletes in a given event and generate rankings based on the national standing of those marks. 

Tuesday's recognition is the latest in a long line of success for the Montana Tech women so far this season. The Orediggers have already seen three women post NAIA national-qualifying standards on the year; senior Jenna Jordan earned an 'A' cut in the javelin (43.58m, fifth in the NAIA), Clark has 'B' standards in the long jump (5.75m, 13th) and high jump (1.66m, 19th), and freshman Ayla Janzen leapt a 'B' in the triple jump (11.80m, 15th). 

The No. 19 ranking is a high-water mark for the Tech women in the outdoor USTFCCCA ratings. The Orediggers did check in 13th in the indoor ratings in 2022 before finishing sixth, also a program-best, at NAIA indoor nationals that season. 

Montana Tech's men's team sat 33rd in this week's national ratings, and the Orediggers are fourth in the javelin, fifth in the shot put and 400m hurdles, and ninth in the 110m hurdles in this week's #EventSquad rankings. 

Both the Tech women and men will head to Missoula this weekend for the Montana Open, a final tune-up before the Frontier Conference championship meet. 

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