NEW ORLEANS, La. -- For the first time in program history, the Montana Tech men's track & field program broke into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's indoor Track & Field Ratings Index NAIA top 25, the USTFCCCA announced Tuesday morning.
The Oredigger men, fresh off a third-place finish in the inaugural Frontier Conference indoor championships over the weekend, checked in at No. 24 on the weekly ratings. That marked a 12-spot improvement from the previous week's ratings, the second-biggest leap in the NAIA.
The TFRI is a mathematical system that ranks collegiate track & field teams based on current-season performances. It combines place points — awarded to top performances on national descending-order lists — with a separation bonus that rewards performances significantly better than the field.
Eight Oredigger performances influenced the rating, led by
Cade VanVleet's top shot put mark in the country. The senior's 17.78-meter throw at the Frontier championships topped his own program record and won the event. VanVleet is also 20th nationally in the weight throw.
Nicoló Lancini and
Ricky Williams also boast top-10 national marks in the triple jump and high jump, respectively. Both of their marks rank seventh in the NAIA.
Morgan McClernan (60m hurdles, 20th),
Justin Morgan (5,000m, 30th),
Zach Merrifield (60m dash, 31st), and
Matthew Moreni (200m, 38th) also contributed to the rating.
Montana Tech's men will now await the announcement of the field for the NAIA indoor championship meet, set to be announced Wednesday. The championship meet runs March 5-7 in Gainesville, Fla.
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