National Rankings - April 27

NEW ORLEANS -- The Slippery Rock University women's track and field team has climbed to No. 14 in the latest NCAA Division II national rankings released by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The No. 14 ranking is the highest of the season for SRU, which broke into the rankings at No. 20 last week.

The Rock is the highest-ranked team in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and the Atlantic Region, with Shippensburg following closely at No. 15 in this week's national poll.

The national poll is determined using percentage points based on the quality of each team's top performers. Typically, in order to score any points toward the national rankings, an individual or relay must rank in the top-35 in the nation.

The Rock has nine individuals and two relays that have combined for 73.84 points.

Jen Hansen leads the way with 20.00 points, based on her clearance of 3.90 meters in the pole vault, a mark which ranks second in the nation.

Jen Harpp has accounted for 18.84 points on the strength of her performances in the 10,000-meter and 5,000-meter runs. She ranks third in the 10k at 34:45.44 and ranks 20th in the 5k at 16:58.33.

Amanda Seigworth is credited with 13.88 points with her performances in the hurdles. She ranks fifth in the 400-meter hurdles at 1:00.03 and 25th in the 100m hurdles at 14.43 seconds.

Allison Smith ranks sixth in the 400m hurdles at 1:00.42 and 35th in the 100m hurdles at 14.54 to account for 11.18 points.

Kim Stitt ranks ninth in the triple jump with a leap of 11.96 meters and ranks 24th in the heptathlon with a score of 4,511 points to count for 8.36 points.

Crystal Burnick ranks 26th in the 10k (36:24.57), Jen Pace ranks 32nd in the steeplechase (11:17.55), Tiffany Tedesco ranks 32nd in the 100-meter dash (12.18) and Laura Berry ranks 35th in the 10k (37:09.16) to round out the individual point-scorers.

The Rock's 4x400-meter relay of Seigworth, Smith, Tedesco and Kaela Snyder ranks 20th, while the 4x100-meter relay of Siegworth, Smith, Tedesco and Jayme Stanek ranks 33rd. The two relays combine for 0.92 points toward the national rankings.

SRU will travel to Lock Haven for the LHU Invitational this Saturday.