MOBILE, Ala. - The South Alabama men's track and field team moved up one spot, to 19th, in the Trackwire 25 Power Rankings released Tuesday. It is the highest-ever position in the NCAA Championships predictor by a Jaguar squad. Only one athlete, senior Vincent Rono, remains ranked in the accompanying Dandy Dozen. The four-time Sun Belt Conference indoor champion is first in the mile.
The NCAA Outdoor 1500m (also known as the metric mile) champion, Rono holds the top spot in the indoor mile for the second week. For the third consecutive week, Rono ran under the NCAA provisional standard in the 3000m with Saturday's ninth place run of 8:00.88 at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational
Junior Ahmed Awesu was ranked 11th at 60m in last Tuesday's survey, but did not make the list this week. The SBC track Performer of the Week last week finished sixth in the 60m finals at Notre Dame with a time of 6.87.
In the preseason rankings, released January 15, the Jag's distance medley relay, a ninth-place finisher at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships, was also 11th, but South Alabama has not fielded a DMR team this season.
Outdoor All-American Tonny Okello was 12th at the indoor 5000m in successive weeks following the initial rankings, but fell out last Tuesday. Okello clocked 8:14.18 for 3000m, finishing 16th in South Bend, Ind., this past weekend.
The Jags dropped out of the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association Poll, also released Tuesday. The men's team was 20th in last week's poll.
