Men's track and field No. 5 in preseason rankings for first time

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) ranked the BYU men’s track and field team No. 5 in its outdoor preseason rankings on Monday.

This is the first time in school history that the Cougars have been ranked in the preseason top-5. The BYU women’s team opens the season ranked No. 32 out of the 173 Division I teams rated by the USTFCCCA.

The USTFCCCA National Ranking Index primarily bases its preseason standings off of previous seasons’ results from the top returning athletes and how each athlete ranks compared to other returning individuals nationally.

The BYU men’s team had five male athletes place in a total of eight top-10 individual rankings and an additional three more athletes ranked in the top-20 for their respective individual events. All-American Connor McMillan ranked third in the 10,000m, along with All-Americans Clayton Young and Rory Linkletter ranked sixth and ninth, respectively, in the same event. Young rates fourth in the nation in the 5000m with Linkletter ranked sixth, McMillan seventh and Danny Carney 10th. Scott Mecham ranked 13th in the nation in the 400m hurdles. All-American Clayson Shumway's No. 6 ranking in the steeplechase makes him another strong competitor for the Cougars in the upcoming season.

The full USTFCCCA preseason rankings can be found on ustfccca.org.