Dutch women drop to No. 7 in regional track rankings

Central Dutch Athletics

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — With just one regular season meet remaining, the Central College women’s track and field team went down one spot to No. 7 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Central Region poll.

Rankings are based off placement in the Regional Descending Order Lists. Those lists are organized by top finishes of Division III athletes of the same region in each event that will be contested at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships. The higher an athlete sits on the list, the more points he or she adds to his or her team’s total. These points do not reflect placement or scoring at the NCAA Championships, but is to show the individuals and teams that have the best chances at scoring well at a meet involving the 19 teams in the region.

The only new entry for Central in the top-10 of an event is the 4×400-meter relay team, who crossed the line in 4 minutes, 2.88 seconds at the Drake Relays. That team featured Kiki Pingel (freshman, Pella), Mary Gray (freshman, West Des Moines, Waukee HS), Paige Doehrmann (sophomore, Lone Tree) and Kate Patton (senior, Murray).

3,000-meter steeplechasers Evie Kammeyer (senior, Urbandale) and Holly McKinney (senior, St. Charles, I-35 HS) are No. 2 and 3 in times of 11:05.91 and 11:05.94.

Freshmen Mary Gray (West Des Moines, Waukee HS) and Kiki Pingel (Pella) remain in the No. 2 and No. 4 spots in the heptathlon with scores of 4,142 points and 4,010 points.

Tori Van Velzen (sophomore, Norwalk) is also No. 4 in the high jump (5 feet, 3 inches).

Nebraska Wesleyan University remains the top team in the region.

The Dutch are headed to the Fighting Scot Invitational in Monmouth, Illinois on Saturday.