Dutch women drop two spots in regional track poll
Central Dutch Athletics
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — With just one competition remaining before the Iowa Conference Indoor Championships, the Central College women’s track team went backwards to No. 10 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Central Region poll.
Rankings are based off placement in the National 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 Indoor 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 said meet.
Mary Gray (freshman, West Des Moines, Waukee HS), Kiki Pingel (freshman, Pella) and Courtney Kruthoff (freshman, Erie, Ill.) stayed in the top-five of the pentathlon. Gray leads the way at No. 3 with 3,095 points. Pingel and Kruthoff trail at No. 4 and No. 5 with 2,882 and 2,830 points, respectively.
Kruthoff is sixth in the high jump (5 feet, 3 inches) while Gray is seventh in the 60-meter hurdles (9.28 seconds) Senior Kate Patton (Murray) is seventh in the 60-meter dash (7.99).
The quartet of Patton, Gray, Pingel and Paige Doehrmann (sophomore, Lone Tree) ran a season-best time of 4 minutes, 0.20 seconds in the 4×400-meter relay, but remain in the No. 5 slot.
Nebraska Wesleyan University stayed atop the region with Wartburg College and the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) picking up silver and bronze spots.
Saturday’s Wartburg Invitational will be the final regular season competition for the Dutch before hosting the Iowa Conference Indoor Championships on February 24-25.
