Women's Track and Field Team is Ranked #20 in NCAA Division III

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University women's track and field team is ranked #20 in NCAA Division III this week in the latest national computer rankings released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Willamette remains #4 in the women's West Region rankings.

At the top of the women's national rankings is University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with 208.02 points. University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh holds the #2 ranking with 131.77 points. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is #3 at 128.29, while Johns Hopkins University (Md.) is #4 at 116.01.

The #5 team is Wartburg College (Iowa) with 94.66 points in the rankings. Massachusetts Institute of Technology follows at #6 with 93.78 points. Illinois Wesleyan College moved up three spots from the a week ago and is now #7 at 87.95, while California Lutheran University is close behind in the #8 spot at 87.43.

Completing the top 10 are George Fox University, down two positions to #9 at 83.98, and Baldwin Wallace College (Ohio) at #10 with 82.62 points. Willamette is #20 with 48.15 points.

George Fox and Willamette are two of three teams from the Northwest Conference listed in this week's women's national rankings. The other team is Whitworth University, which is #22 at 44.14 points.

Team rankings are determined by assigning points to athletes ranked high on the national performance lists. Each team's score is the sum of their athletes point totals.

UW-La Crosse not only leads the women's national rankings, but also is #1 in the men's national rankings with 192.22 points. UW-Whitewater is ranked #2 with 141.27 points, while University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire is #3 at 140.65. North Central College (Illinois) is listed at #4 with 120.41 points. University of Mount Union (Ohio) is #5 at 90.91.

The only nationally-ranked men's team from the NWC is Whitworth at #20. Whitworth received 49.18 points.

In the West Region women's rankings, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) remains in the top spot with 673.08 points. George Fox is #2 at 471.58, Whitworth is #3 at 368.92 and Willamette is #4 at 360.97. Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) moved up one position to #5 with 257.86 points.

GFU, Whitworth and Willamette were joined by two other NWC teams on the women's West Region list. Linfield College is ranked #9 at 171.64 and University of Puget Sound is #10 at 142.39.

The West Region men's rankings feature Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at #1 with 540.81 points. Whitworth is in the #2 spot with 419.29 points, with Occidental College (Calif.) holding #3 at 328.17. Redlands is #4 at 292.61 and George Fox is #5 at 282.46.

Six Willamette women's track and field athletes are ranked in the top 25 of this week's NCAA Division III performance list. Three of the athletes are ranked in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Michaela Freeby (Sr., Milwaukie, OR/Rex Putnam HS) is ranked #1 in the steeplechase with a personal record time of 10:30.09 at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival on April 3. Taylor Ostrander (Jr., Kenai, AK/Kenai Central HS) is #4 at 10:52.24 and Hannah Bressler (Jr., Oak Harbor, WA/Oak Harbor HS) is #11 at 10:59.31.

Olivia Mancl (So., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) holds the #6 ranking in the 1,500-meter run at 4:34.71. She earned her top time at the Willamette Invitational on March 28.

In the javelin throw, Meka Townsend (Jr., Okanogan, WA/Okanogan HS) is listed at #21 with a top distance of 131' 4". Maura Forbush (So., Hollister, CA/San Benito HS) is #25 in the 400-meter dash at 57.95 seconds.

At the end of the regular season, the top 22 athletes in each women's event will qualify for the 2015 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The NCAA Championships will be held May 21-23 at Merrick-Pinkard Track & Field Complex in Canton, N.Y.