May 21, 2012

TUCSON - The University of Arizona Wildcat men's and women's track and field teams both sit in the top 10 after the latest national poll was released by the USTFCCCA on Monday. The men climbed nine spots to No. 6 in the country while the women stayed at the No. 8 spot.

On the men's side, the Wildcats are joined by four other teams from the Pac-12. USC fell two spots to No. 13, Arizona State stayed at 14th, Stanford moved up four spots to No. 18 and Oregon fell one spot to No. 21.

For the women, Arizona is accompanied by four Pac-12 schools. Oregon dropped two spots to No. 5, Stanford moved up one spot to No. 10, Arizona State is down two spots to No. 12 and USC stayed at No. 23.

In the first round of competition at the NCAA Championships, the UA women will have sophomore Germe Poston will compete in the 100-meter dash ranked No. 23 and the 200-meter dash ranked No. 35. Sophomore Tamara Pridgett will also run the 200 meters, she is ranked 41st. Senior Echos Blevins and sophomore Shapri Romero will both run the 400 meters. Blevins is ranked 19th and Romero is 27th. Junior Elizabeth Apgar will run the 1,500-meter race, she is ranked No. 14. Freshman Clea Formaz will run the 3,000-meter steeplechase, she is ranked 29th. Sophomore Elvin Kibet is set to compete in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. She is ranked seventh in the 5K and 10th in the 10K. Juniors Jen Bergman and Hanna Henson are also running the 10K. Bergman is ranked ninth and Henson is ranked 46th. Senior Dahlys Marshall is ranked 16th in the 100-meter hurdles. Junior Georganne Moline is No.1 in the 400-meter hurdles. The 4x100-meter relay team is ranked 18th and the 4x400-meter relay team is No. 5. Junior Brigetta Barrett will enter the high jump competition ranked No. 1. Sophomore Alex Weatherly will compete in the pole vault, she is ranked 36th. Junior Alyssa Hasslen will compete in the shot put and the discus. She is No. 2 in the shot put and No. 9 in the discus. Junior Taylor Freeman will also throw the discus, she is ranked 20th. Senior Taylor Bush will compete in the hammer throw, she is ranked No. 8. Junior Asia Easley will throw the javelin and she is ranked No. 41.

In the men's west region, junior Chris McSwain will compete in the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. He is ranked 43rd in the 100 meters and 29th in the 200 meters. Junior James Eichberger will compete in the 800-meter run, he is ranked No. 18. Sophomore Lawi Lalang will run the 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters. He is ranked No. 1 in the 1,500 meters and No. 2 in the 5K. Senior Stephen is set to run the 5K and 10K. Sambu sits at No. 3 in the 5K and 10K. Junior Clifton Leak is entering the 400-meter hurdle competition ranked 33rd. Juniors Nick Ross and Edgar Rivera-Morales both sit at the No. 1 spot for the high jump competition. Ross and freshman Jovon Cunningham will compete in the triple jump. Ross is ranked seventh and Cunningham is 13th. Sophomore Bozidar Antunovic will throw the shot put, he is ranked seventh. Junior Tyler Johnson ranks seventh in the hammer throw competition.