In a historic turn of events, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association released their latest batch of weekly rankings, naming the Texas A&M University-Commerce outdoor men's team the No. 3 ranked team in the country.
The Lions are off to a red-hot start to the outdoor season following their dominant performance at the A&M-Commerce vs. Tarleton State Dual Meet last Saturday, already having accrued seven provisional qualifiers on the year.
Masoud Moghaddam, who was recently named the USTFCCCA Division II National Athlete of the Week, smashed the previous A&M-Commerce school record in the hammer throw by over 12 meters. In doing so, he took the top provisional qualifying mark in the country by over three meters. Tyler Rambo also secured a top mark in Division II with a 16.95m toss in the shot put, while reigning outdoor All-American Hendrik Nungess scored a provisional qualifier in the javelin throw with an effort of 62.14m.
In the jumps, Gage Bowles and DeVontae Steele secured provisional qualifiers in the long jump to become the fourth and fifth best marks in Division II, while freshman Jamal Curtis had a personal best 2.11m mark, missing the best mark in the conference by a mere half an inch. To round things out, the same 4x400m relay team which claimed All-American honors in the indoor season picked up where they left off, grabbing a provisional qualifying mark of 3:13.84.
The Lions third overall ranking is the highest they've received in the USTFCCCA poll. The only teams to finish above the Lions were a pair of California schools, Chico State and Cal-Poly Pomona. LSC-rivals Angelo State also found their ways into the top-ten with a No. 6 overall billing. A&M-Commerce also received the notable distinction of being ranked No. 1 in the South Central region, with a score of 671.42 compared to second-place Angelo State (554.38).
The No. 3 ranked Lions next travel to the Austin, Texas to take part in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, which will last from Wednesday March 25 through Saturday, March 28.