NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Coming off a pair of strong performances this weekend, both the men and the women moved up the USTFCCCA South Regional Rankings. The women advanced from seventh to fifth while the men cracked the top-15 for the first time in head coach Steve Keith’s tenure.
The women’s fifth-place ranking is their highest ranking of the season, positioning them third among SEC programs in the south region. Only Ole Miss and Georgia are slated ahead of Vanderbilt with Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi State and Auburn all trailing the Commodores. The women are coming off a 24th place finish at a highly competitive Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational that featured 15 nationally ranked programs. Sara Tsai paced the Commodores with a 58th-place finish in a field of 230 competitors.
The reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, Nick Lanning, led the Commodores to a 13th place finish at the Louisville Classic with a time of 24:48.70 to finish 39th in an 8-kilometer race that featured 252 harriers. The men’s performance boosted them to 14th in the regional rankings.
Both programs await the Texas A&M Arturo Invitational in College Station, Texas, on Oct. 13. The meet presents Vanderbilt’s final test prior to the SEC Championships in Auburn, Ala., on Oct. 26.
