NEW ORLEANS -- Following an impressive performance at the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Championships last week, the Christopher Newport women's cross country team vaulted to third in the USTFCCCA Regional Rankings, while the men remained eighth in the most recent poll, which was released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Tuesday afternoon.
The women jumped up three spots in the rankings after finishing second at the league meet on Saturday. The No. 3 position equals the highest attained by the Captains since they climbed to second during the 2015 campaign. Meanwhile, Tuesday's release was the 48th consecutive poll in which CNU earned a spot in the top-10 dating back to the 2019 season.
On the men's side, Christopher Newport remained eighth in the South for the second straight week. The Captains have been ranked in the top-10 in 47 straight polls since 2019.
Along with CNU, Washington and Lee continued to hold down the top spot in the South in both the men's and women's polls. Emory also ranked above the Captains on the women's side, while Southern Virginia and Rhodes rounded out the top-five.
For the men, Lynchburg was slotted just below the top-ranked Generals, while Emory, Pfeiffer, and Roanoke also secured top-five spots.
Christopher Newport is coming off of an award-winning appearance at the league meet last weekend in Sunnyvale, California. During the title competition,
Evan Young,
Clayton Rankin,
Sarah Dake, and
Sarah Bland all earned first-team All-Conference citations, while
Kayla Lopez and
Courtney Mudd garnered second-team plaudits.
Rewriting the history books, Young shaved over a full minute off his previous PR and jumped to eighth on the school's all-time 8k list with a time of 24:52.6. Rankin also moved to 13th on the program leaderboard with a 25:07.8 clocking, while
Luke Tompkins became the 42nd Captain to break the 26-minute mark with a time of 25:51.9.
On the women's side, Dake threw down the fourth-fastest 6k time in school history with a 22:05.1 mark on Saturday, while Bland vaulted to fifth on the all-time charts with a 22:10.3 standard. Additionally, Lopez (22:43.8), Mudd (22:49.9),
Josie Brumfield (23:10.7), and
Katherine Streeter (23:49.8) all added sub-24-minute clockings during a well-balanced team effort.
Christopher Newport will return to action on November 15 when the Captains take part in the NCAA South Regionals at Green Hill Park in Salem, Virginia.
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