Women's Track and Field Team Earns Preseason National Ranking
January 06, 2011 | Women's Track and Field
Jan. 6, 2011
USTFCCCA Top 25 Indoor Preseason Rankings 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After a 21st-place showing at the 2010 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, the University of Louisville women's track and field team has been tabbed 18th in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' indoor preseason Top-25 poll.
The preseason ranking ties a program-best, which was set last year. Previously, the Cardinals' highest indoor national ranking came in 2009, when they reached No. 21 twice - first on Jan. 30, 2009, and again on Feb. 11, 2009.
"This is certainly an honor, but the most important ranking is the one after the national championships in March," track and field head coach Ron Mann says. "We know it's going to be an exciting indoor season, and we hope to build upon what we have."
For the third-straight year, national team rankings are complied by mathematical formulae based on national descending order lists and data taken from previous seasons. For the preseason and early-season rankings, data will be taken from previous seasons as well as the current season.
Individually, the women received points in the rankings from six athletes in a combined eight different events. Defending two-time indoor weight throw national champion, D'Ana McCarty, headlines the list of returnees for the Cardinals. Currently, she has the second-longest weight throw (72-10.5/22.21m) this season, while Khadija Abdullah's shot put mark of 55-7.75/16.96m ranks fourth best. In the jumps group, Charachesicia Lockhart gained points for the Cardinals, as she ranks third in the triple jump (40-9/12.42m) and fourth in the long jump (19-11.5/6.08m). The three other athletes that contributed to the ranking were Saravia Richardson, Michelle Theophille and Chinwe Okoro.
Louisville, one of only four BIG EAST schools with ranked women's squads, returns to action on Jan. 14 with the Kentucky Track and Field Invitational in Lexington.
For all of the latest information on Louisville cross country and track and field, log on to uoflsports.com, or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account at www.twitter.com/louisvilletrack.
