USTFCCCA Week 3 Rankings

San Francisco, CA -- Both of the women's and men's track teams for the Academy of Art University had the weekend off last week, but due to a shakeup in the protocol for calculating points, both teams moved up even further in the USTFCCCA national rankings. After the Association decided to only include marks from this year, the Urban Knights women moved into the third spot nationally, right behind Grand Valley State and Lincoln (Mo.), while the men went from 22nd to 14th, a jump of eight spots.

The Knights were last in action at the Jackson's Invitational in Boise, ID two weeks ago, with both teams netting a couple more automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Vashti Thomas put up an automatic qualifying long jump of 20' 5.75", the best mark in Division II and tenth best in the country. Thomas also auto-qualified in the triple jump, improving her past mark with a 40' 3.5" jump that netted her the fourth-best mark in D-II behind teammate Briana Stewart.

Thomas then put up another auto-qualifying time in the 200m, running the second-fastest time in Division II (23.84). Dinesha Bean also hit the provisional qualifying mark in the 200, running it in 24.27 seconds, while also qualifying in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.58 seconds. Lastly, the Urban Knights put together their second-fastest relay team of the year, provisionally qualifying in the 4x400m behind a team of Bean, Keanna Moody, Dominique Berry, and Chantel King.

On the men's side, the Urban Knights had three runners hit the provisional qualifying mark in the 200m. Emil Tolliver (22.07), Jaylon Hicks (22.14), and Shaquille Howard (22.18) joined Alexander McNally in that pool, while Johnny Carter cemented himself among the country's top jumpers. Carter hit the provisional qualifying for the long jump, securing the second-best mark in all of Division II by going 24' 7". He then improved upon his already top-notch mark in the triple jump, staying automatically qualified by jumping 51' 3" in Boise.

The Knights will be back in action this weekend when they partake in the Don Kirby Invitational & Open at the University of New Mexico and the Grand Valley State Big Meet.