Men's Indoor Track Climbs National Rankings

Zye Boey & David Holm are nationally ranked

NEW ORLEANS – Eastern Illinois men’s indoor track moved up nine spots in this week’s national rankings as compiled by the United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association as the Panthers landed in 67th position. The weekly rankings are based on in-season performances and how those would translate to points scored at the NCAA Indoor National Championships.

Freshman Zye Boey was ranked in the 60m and 200m dash. Boey posted a mark of 6.66 in the 60m dash and 20.93 in the 200m dash. Both are school records and passed the NCAA Indoor provisional mark. Boey’s mark in the 60m is tied for the seventh best mark in the nation this season. His 200m time ranks fifth in the nation this season.

Senior David Holm was ranked in 800m after setting the Lantz Indoor Fieldhouse record at 1:49.60. That time is converted for NCAA ranking purposes to 1:49.00 which is the third fastest time in the NCAA this season.

The USTFCCCA currently ranks teams using a combination of top pre-season marks for returning NCAA competitors from last season and top marks set this year. This week (Feb. 11) will be the final week that a combination formula is used for the 2009 rankings, giving EIU an opportunity to climb even higher in the national standings next week.

With the current formula, Arkansas is the national leader with 171.24 points followed by Arizona State, Oregon, Texas A&M and Florida State in the top 5. EIU is projected with 9.80 points under the current formula.

The Panthers return to action this weekend when they travel to the Iowa State Classic on Friday and Saturday.