NEW ORLEANS, La. - There's a new number one team in the latest edition of the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association NJCAA Top-25 Poll as the Cloud County Community College men's track team vaulted four spots to claim the number-one ranking on Wednesday.
In addition to the top-ranked T-Bird men, Cloud County also boasts the number-five ranked women's team in the latest USTFCCCA NJCAA Poll as the T-Birds remain in the top-five for the second-straight week.
The big move from the CCCC men comes following a weekend that saw the T-Birds add 11 national top-10 marks to their season performance which includes three of the top-five spots in the 5,000 meters (Awet Beraki, Edwin Kipainoi, and Linus Limo). Cloud County also holds three of the top-six spots in the decathlon (Marcquiece Cade, Andrew Betton, and Renaldo Savoury) along with the top mark in the NJCAA in the javelin from Caden Bach with a throw of 59.47 meters (195 ft. - 2 in.) this past weekend at the Jo Meaker Classic in Canyon, Texas. the marks allowed Cloud County to score a computer-generated score of 610.75 points to take the top spot in a top-five that has been completely reshuffled from last week. Reigning number-one South Plains College would fall all the way to number four (577.84 points) while New Mexico Junior College (590.75 points) moved up a spot to number two. Barton (third, 586.72 points) and Iowa Central (fifth, 427.09 points) both fell a spot as not one team ranked inside the top-10 this week holds the same spot as last week.
In the women's rankings, CCCC would drop one spot from fourth to fifth after recording a computer-generated score of 454.10 points following a week that saw limited action for the T-Birds. Cloud County sits behind New Mexico Junior College (647.08 points), South Plains (607.88 points), Barton (508.96 points), and Iowa Central (475.56 points) in the poll as Barton is the only team to hold the same ranking in the top-five as last week. CCCC currently has 17 national top-10 marks, including the number two mark from Marie Forbes in the discus (47.97 meters, 157 ft. - 5 in.) along with the number five, seven, and eight times in the 400 meters (Leonie Beu, Isila Apkup, and Pamela Milano).
Both the Cloud County men and women are expected to compete in the Friends University Invitational in Wichita this weekend, with action set to get underway on Friday.
--cloudtbirds.com--