Central still No. 17 in national track poll

Central Dutch Athletics

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — The Central College men’s track and field team was once again at No. 17 in the USTFCCCA Division III Indoor Track and Field National Team Computer Rankings this week.

Points in the National Team Computer Rankings are based off placement in the National Descending Order Lists. 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 said meet.

Sophomore Will Daniels (Geneseo, Ill.) leads the nation in the heptathlon with 5,183 points and is fifth in the high jump at 6 feet, 10.75 inches. Ryan Kruse (senior, St. Clair, Minn.) also has the country’s ninth-best heptathlon score (4,904 points). Mark Fairley (senior, Dubuque) blazed the mile in 4 minutes, 17.7 seconds to clock in with the 32nd-best qualifying mark this season.

A 28-second improvement last weekend by the distance medley relay team of Jon Specht (senior, Dubuque, Hempstead HS), Blake Morgan (senior, Story City, Roland-Story HS), Kyle Pape (junior, Dubuque, Wahlert and Fairley moved the Dutch to 15th nationally (10:13.28).

North Central College (Ill.) and the University of Mount Union (Ohio) kept the top two spots for consecutive weeks.

In the regional rankings, Central is No. 5 with the University of Dubuque leading the way in the Central Region.

Central will host the Iowa Conference Indoor Championships this weekend at H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse starting with the heptathlon Friday at 1 p.m.