SHSU women ranked No. 33, men 87 by USTFCCA
1/27/2016 11:19:00 AM | Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
On the heels of two straight top finishes, the Sam Houston State women's track and field squad checked in at No. 33 in the USTFCCA NCAA Division I National Team Computer Week 1 Rankings, jumping 73 spots from its preseason position.
The Bearkats ascent was the third highest, only behind Tennessee State's movement up 93 spots and Georgia Tech's 90 spots, while ranking Sam Houston fourth in the state behind Texas (No. 3), Baylor (No. 11) and Texas A&M (No. 20).
“It speaks to the quality of those high end kids that are scoring,” eighth-year head coach David Self said. “In many staff meetings, we've talked and these are the most solid best performing teams we've ever had. This is the first time in school history we've had two athletes ranked in the NCAA at the same time. To have not one, but two ranked for a mid-major school like Sam says a lot about the young ladies.”
Senior weight thrower Ashley Jenkins leads the nation in the weight throw with a toss of 71 feet, ½ inch over the weekend at New Mexico. Jenkins holds the program's top six marks in the event and is the school's first national leader.
Elsewhere, senior Danielle Demas boasted an altitude-converted 8.18 last week, ranking first in program history and fifth in the nation. Sophomore Camry Grisby logged an altitude-converted 2:10.81, moving up to No. 42 with the school-record time.
“This is the first race she lost this year, and she was ticked even though she set a personal best,” Self said of Demas. “She actually had to run this weekend and run some girls down to do the things she did, but it was good for her. It's going to help her at the indoor nationals.”
Meanwhile, the Sam Houston men checked in at No. 87, ranking second in the Southland Conference and ahead of national programs like Iowa State, California, Iowa, Arizona State and Auburn.
The Bearkats boast seven athletes in the top 50 nationally including junior Garrett Larson, who captured a school-record 17 feet, 6 ½ inches in the pole vault at New Mexico, ranking him seventh.
“On the men's side, this is by far the best, deepest team we've had,” Self said. “We're going into the conference meet, and we're looking at things, and we look to be able to score in every event. If you can score in every event, you have a hard time getting beat.”
Sophomore Jeffrey Moore ranks No. 12 in the 800 meters behind a time of 1:49.63 while also running the first leg of the distance medley relay squad which ranks No. 26 at 10:05.17 and includes senior Robert Monticone, junior Kennedy Howard and junior Evan Arambula.
Freshman Chris Jefferson also moved up to No. 35 nationally with a time of 21.36 in the 200 meters at New Mexico while senior Justin Jenkins secured a 6.77 in the 60 meters to enter the fourth meet in a nine-way tie for 42nd.
“Now that we're doing this, we're going to start sharing these things because we're getting close to our conference weekend,” Self said. “We're really focusing on really making sure we have a big push on the conference team championship. This goes a long way to say we're not only good in the Southland, we're good across the state and in the NCAA.”
