Alabama Men’s Track & Field No. 6, Women No. 18 in Pre-Regional USTFCCCA National Rankings

Vincent Kiprop, Gilbert Kigen, Alfred Chelanga

Alabama Men’s Track & Field No. 6, Women No. 18 in Pre-Regional USTFCCCA National Rankings

5/22/2018 9:15:00 AM | Track & Field, Cross Country

Crimson Tide begin NCAA competition at East Regional this weekend

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's track & field team is No. 6, and the Crimson Tide women are No. 18 in the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) pre-regional outdoor rankings released Monday.

The Alabama track & field teams have qualified 30 individuals (15 men, 15 women) and the women's 4x100 and 4x400 relays for this weekend's NCAA East Regional, May 24-26, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla.

The top 12 finishers in each event at the east regional will advance to the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, June 6-9.

The Alabama men will be joined at the east regional by 11 teams ranked in this week's top 25, including No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Georgia, No. 10 LSU, No. 12 Florida State, No. 13 Kentucky, No. 17 Illinois, No. 19 Mississippi State, No. 20 Ohio State, No. 22 Penn State, No. 23 Tennessee and No. 24 Auburn.

The Tide men have eight individuals ranked in the top-12 in their respective events in the east region, including Keitavious Walter (7^th- 100 meters; 7^th- 200 meters), Champion Allison (11^th- 400 meters), Alfred Chelanga (3^rd- 10,000 meters, 6^th- 5,000 meters); Gilbert Kigen (2^nd- 10,000 meters, 5^th- 5,000 meters), Vincent Kiprop (1^st- 10,000 meters, 3^rd- 5,000 meters), Ruebin Walters (3^rd- 110-meter hurdles), Kord Ferguson (8^th- shot put) and Daniel Haugh (4^th- hammer throw).

The women's east regional line-up includes eight top-25 opponents: No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Georgia, No. 7 Kentucky, No. 8 Florida, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 14 Purdue, No. 17 Virginia Tech and No. 22 Ole Miss.

Five members of the Tide women's team are among the top-12 in their events in the east region, including Tamara Clark (7^th- 100 meters, 7^th- 200 meters), Kaitlin Walker (12^th- 400-meter hurdles), Kiara Williams (10^th- long jump), Portious Warren (4^th- shot put) and Tianah List (8^th- javelin). The Alabama women's 4x100-meter relay (5^th) and 4x400-meter relay (6^th) are also among the top-12 in their event rankings.

Competition at the 2018 East Regional will get underway on Thursday, May 24.

For all the latest information on the team, follow AlabamaTrack on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can be found @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.