Central men No. 6 in indoor track national computer rankings

Central College

PELLA — The Central College men’s track and field team is No. 6 in the USTFCCCA Division III Indoor Track and Field Preseason National Team Computer Rankings released Tuesday.

Central finished 10th at last year’s NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships. The highlight of the national meet for the Dutch was winning their first-ever running events indoor national title in the distance medley relay with a meet-record time of 9 minutes, 54.8 seconds.

Seventh-year coach Joe Dunham returns three 2014 NCAA indoor meet qualifiers in Spencer Hammack (junior, Ottumwa), Eli Horton (senior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS) and Drew Jackson (senior, Johnston) as well as 2013 heptathlon national champion Eric Larson (senior, Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS), who missed the 2014 campaign due to injury

Defending-champion Wis.-La Crosse sits atop the rankings while Wis.-Eau Claire, Mount Union (Ohio), Wis.-Whitewater and North Central (Ill.) round out the top five. Central is the highest ranked school in the Iowa Conference and Wartburg is the only other conference school to appear in the rankings, at No. 18.

Central will compete next at the Dutch Athletics Classic Jan. 23-24 in H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse.