Pioneer men earn first national Top 25 rating from USTFCCCA

Posted: Feb 17, 2022

NEW ORLEANS, La. --- For the first time in program history, the Tusculum University men's track and field team has attained a national Top 25 ranking from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The Pioneers are ranked 23rd in this week's men's Division II indoor ratings with 35.50 points, according to the latest release from the USTFCCCA. Their rating index consists of current marks from the 2022 indoor track & field season. Tusculum was ranked 38th in last week's ratings

Senior sprinter Widchard Guervil accounted for 34.96 points for the Pioneers, based on his times of 6.71 seconds in the 60 meters at the Flat Is Fast Invitational on Jan. 23 and his school-record time of 21.13 seconds in the 200 meters from last Saturday's VMI Indoor Classic. Guervil is currently ranked fourth nationally in the 60 meters and second in the 200 meters.

Also earning points toward the Pioneers' USTFCCCA rating is junior sprinter Zackary Nelson, who accounted for 0.54 points for his performance in the 400 meters of 48.31 seconds at the VMI Winter Relays on Jan. 28. Nelson is currently 22nd in Division II in the 400 meters, one of 28 national qualifiers in the event.

Tusculum's national ranking of 23rd is second-highest in both the South Atlantic Conference and the NCAA Division II Southeast Region, trailing only Queens University of Charlotte which is 15th this week, up from 31st a week ago.

The Pioneers are also among the top 10 in Division II in the men's 60 meters and men's 200 meters according to the USTFCCCA Event Squad rankings, which rates teams based on the cumulative season-best marks for a school's top four athletes in an event. Tusculum is sixth in the 60 meters with a team average of 6.86 seconds, and eighth in the 200 meters with an average best time of 21.88 seconds.

Pittsburg State, which will host the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championship March 11-12, moved up from second to first in this week's national ratings. Colorado School of Mines is second, followed by former number one Grand Valley State in third, Ashland in fourth and American International in fifth.

The Pioneers will compete in their final regular-season indoor meet on Friday, Feb. 18 at the University of South Carolina Open in Columbia, South Carolina. The SAC Indoor Track & Field Championship will be contested Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 26-27 at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.