Iowa State Men Surge to No. 8 in USTFCCCA Rankings

AMES, Iowa – A huge weekend by the Iowa State men's track and field program has seen the Cyclones surge up to No. 8 in this week's USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Men's Outdoor Track & Field Ratings, announced on Monday.

This is ISU's highest-ever ranking outdoors, with the Cyclones' previous in-season best outdoors coming at the end of the 2019 outdoor regular season at No. 29. If you include indoor season, this ties for ISU's highest regular season ranking in the TFRI Era (2008-Present), with ISU ranking at No. 8 twice during the 2020 indoor campaign.

The Cyclones have seven entries in the NCAA Division I top-10 this week, highlighted by the outstanding 10,000-meter run performance by Wesley Kiptoo and Edwin Kurgat on Friday night at the Hayward Premiere. Kiptoo checks in at No. 1 with his 27:58.10, followed closely by Kurgat's 27:58.33.

Among the other strong performances from Eugene, David Too checks in at No. 2 in the men's steeplechase rankings after his personal best 8:47.58 on Friday night, while Festus Lagat posted a pair of top-five marks in the 800m run (1:47.15, No. 3) and 1,500m run (3:39.93, No. 5). Lagat is joined in the 800m top-10 by Roshon Roomes, who is No. 8 with his 1:47.87. Two other Cyclone runs at Eugene helped contribute to ISU's ranking this week, as Mitchell Day's 28:55.03 in the 10,000-meter run is No. 29 nationally ,while Thomas Pollard's 13:55.27 5K effort is No. 35.

Three Cyclone performances at the Florida Relays contributed to this week's ranking, led by Vlad Pavlenko in the hammer throw. The senior re-set his own school record in Gainesville with a throw of 222-9 (67.89m) to check in at No. 10 in this week's rankings. Eric Fogltanz contributed to the rankings with a pair of runs this weekend, as he is No. 17 in the 400-meter hurdles (51.24) and No. 38 in the 400-meter dash (46.84).

Capping the ISU ranking group is one holdover performance, as Scott Fuchs' 216-3 (65.92m) throw in the javelin at the Longhorn Invitational in March is good for No. 41 nationally.

The No. 8 Iowa State men will be back in action this weekend at the Jim Duncan Invitational at Drake and the Joe Walker Invitational at Ole Miss.

Players Mentioned

Mitchell Day

Eric Fogltanz

Scott Fuchs

Wesley Kiptoo

Edwin Kurgat

Festus Lagat

Vlad Pavlenko

Thomas Pollard

Roshon Roomes

David Too

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics