NEW ORLEANS – The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's track and field continues its rise in the South Central Region Ratings Index as released by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday afternoon.
 
Only four student-athletes were in action last week for the Lions, who have two more weeks of competition before the Southland Conference Indoor Championships. The Lion men are rated No. 17 in the region this week, while the women climbed five spots to No. 30.
 
Among Southland teams, the Lion men are third in the leaderboard and the women are sixth.
 
For the men, J.T. Smith (Klein Oak) is second in the region with a time of 6.62 seconds, Delan Edwin (Castries, Saint Lucia) is 12^th with a time of 6.72 seconds, and Ibrahim Fuseini (Accra, Ghana) is 22^nd with a time of 6.75. As a team, the Lions are ranked No. 11 in the country for the men's 60 meter dash.
 
In the 200 meter dash, Edwin is 15^th with a time of 21.10 seconds, Fuseini's season-best time of 21.39 seconds is 32^nd and Smith is 34^th with a time of 21.41 seconds. Philip Krenek (Kostelní Strimelice, Czech Republic) ranks 33^rd with a time of 48.08 seconds in the 400 meter dash.
 
The men's 4x400 meter relay team of Edwin, Krenek, Conner Stockerl (The Woodlands), and Eddie Barrientes (Chisholm Trail) are ninth with a time of 3:13.63 in the region.
 
In field events, Micky Ferdinand (Micoud, Saint Lucia) is fifth in the high jump with a mark of 6 feet 11 inches (2.11m), Tyke Owens (Lebanon Trail) ranks 14^th with a mark of 6 feet 9 inches (2.06m), and Aiden Pelphrey (Princeton) is 35^th with a mark of 6 feet 4.75 inches (1.95m). Trayveon Franklin (Montgomery) is 18^th in the triple jump with a mark of 49 feet 5 inches (15.06m).
 
Trey Wheeler (Scurry-Rosser) competed in the heptathlon last weekend and his score of 4,083 is 24^th in the region.
 
On the women's side, Celeste Sela (Mont de Marsan, France) is 16^th in the region with a mark of 19 feet 6.25 inches (5.95m) in the long jump. Amaka Ezukanma (Timber Creek) ranks 32^nd in the triple jump with a mark of 38 feet 1.5 inches (11.62m).
 
The women's 4x400 meter relay team of Danielle Nicholson (McKinney North), Leah Pettis (McKinney North), Maia Maury (Noisy-Le-Grand, France), and Naomi Ndukwe (Perserville, France) is 24^th with a time of 3:53.99.
 
In the women's pentathlon, Maury ranks 15^th with a score of 3,497 and Elizabeth Ortiz (Palacios) is 27^th with a score of 3,178. Both student-athletes also achieved those scores last weekend.
 
The Lions split the squad this week on Friday and Saturday, competing in the Howie Ryan Invitational at Houston and the Tyson Invitational at Arkansas.
 
2023 USTFCCCA REGIONAL TRACK & FIELD RATING INDEX – Feb. 6, 2022
MEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD SOUTH CENTRAL REGION

Rank	Team	Points	Previous
1	Arkansas	641.71	1
2	Texas	309.10	2
3	LSU	227.27	3
4	Texas A&M	208.95	4
5	Arkansas State	156.15	6
6	Baylor	133.74	5
7	Houston	102.35	7
8	TCU	90.50	12
9	Little Rock	87.91	9
10	Stephen F. Austin	85.30	8
11	Texas State	75.66	14
12	Northwestern State	74.07	11
13	Louisiana	65.61	10
14	Rice	60.21	13
15	UTSA	54.95	17
16	UT Arlington	51.02	16
17	A&M-COMMERCE	47.18	15
18	Incarnate Word	39.97	21
19	Abilene Christian	39.21	20
19	ULM	39.21	18
21	Southeastern Louisiana	25.30	19
22	Louisiana Tech	25.15	25
23	North Texas	20.58	23
24	Tarleton	19.01	22
25	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	17.33	24
26	Tulane	14.45	37
27	New Orleans	13.00	35
28	Lamar	12.46	26
29	Sam Houston	8.50	28
30	Southern	6.13	27
31	Houston Christian	4.70	29
32	McNeese	2.60	31
33	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	1.83	30
34	Texas Southern	1.35	32
35	Grambling State	0.96	33
36	Prairie View A&M	0.80	34
37	Central Arkansas	0.47	NR
38	UTRGV	0.03	36

 
2023 USTFCCCA REGIONAL TRACK & FIELD RATING INDEX – Feb. 6, 2022
WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD SOUTH CENTRAL REGION

Rank	Team	Points	Previous
1	Arkansas	552.27	1
2	Texas	478.01	2
3	Texas A&M	257.22	3
4	LSU	252.16	4
5	Arkansas State	155.73	5
6	Baylor	119.10	6
7	Texas State	97.83	9
8	Stephen F. Austin	96.07	7
9	Rice	86.59	8
10	Tulane	83.72	17
11	TCU	77.26	16
12	Houston	73.50	14
13	SMU	52.85	10
14	UTSA	49.99	11
15	North Texas	47.52	12
16	Louisiana	41.19	13
17	ULM	34.57	15
18	UT Arlington	25.05	18
19	Lamar	21.61	22
20	Houston Christian	21.44	21
21	Abilene Christian	18.64	19
22	McNeese	17.31	23
23	UTRGV	16.23	24
24	Sam Houston	14.97	20
25	New Orleans	12.37	33
26	Incarnate Word	12.24	26
27	Northwestern State	7.77	25
28	Little Rock	6.83	27
29	Texas Southern	6.51	28
30	A&M-COMMERCE	3.19	35
31	Louisiana Tech	3.03	32
32	Tarleton	2.79	30
33	Southern	2.47	29
34	Prairie View A&M	2.18	31
35	Southeastern Louisiana	1.40	34
36	Central Arkansas	0.94	36
37	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	0.60	38
38	Grambling State	0.50	37