Regional track rankings include Central women for second week
Central Dutch Athletics
PELLA —The Central College women’s track and field team kept a spot in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Central Region poll this week, but fell three spots to No. 8.
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.
In the pentathlon, Central has the top-two marks in the region led by Mary Gray’s (freshman, West Des Moines, Waukee HS) 2,891-point performance and Kiki Pingel’s (freshman, Pella) 2,882-point effort. Courtney Kruthoff (freshman, Erie, Ill.) and Merissa Larson (senior, Maple Grove, Minn.) are also in the top-10.
Kruthoff is still second in the high jump (5 feet, 3 inches) while Gray is fifth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.28 seconds) Senior Kate Patton (Murray) is fifth in the 60-meter dash (7.99).
The fifth-place 4×400-meter relay team consists of Paige Doehrmann (sophomore, Lone Tree), Gray, Hope Heitman (junior, Guttenberg, Clayton Ridge HS) and Lynzie Miller (senior, Des Moines, Lincoln HS). The quartet clocked in at 4:07.49.
Nebraska Wesleyan University received the region’top spot with league rivals University of Dubuque and the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) holding No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.
Central will compete at the Wartburg Select this weekend. The pentathlon will be Friday afternoon starting at 3 p.m. The rest of the meet starts with field events at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
