EIU Ranked 31st in Nation

NEW ORLEANS – Eastern Illinois men’s indoor track jumped significantly in this week’s national rankings as compiled by the USTFCCCA. EIU landed in 31st position as this week marked the first week of the indoor rankings that only used times and distances from the current season as a projection of where that team would finish in the NCAA Indoor Championships. EIU was ranked with 30.90 points.

Two EIU athletes secured points for the Panthers with nationally ranked times in their respective events. Both Zye Boey and David Holm have posted Top 10 times this season as they compete for a possible berth in the NCAA Indoor Championships slated for March 13-14 at Texas A&M.

Boey ranks seventh nationally in both the 60m and 200m dash. He posted his time of 6.66 in the 60m dash at the Illinois Intercollegiate on Jan. 31. His time of 20.93 in the 200m came at the Notre Dame Meyo Invite on Feb. 7. Both times are school records at EIU.

Holm ranks sixth nationally in the 800m run as he posted a time of 1:48.86 at this past weekend’s Iowa State Classic. Holm has been under the NCAA provisional mark two times this season as he earlier set the Lantz Indoor Fieldhouse record for the 800m. His time at Iowa State was second on the EIU career list landing 0.24 seconds behind former NCAA Indoor National Champion Jim Maton.

EIU continues action this Friday with the EIU Friday Night Special at Lantz Indoor Fieldhouse. They will host the 2009 OVC Indoor Championships on Feb. 27-28.

Oregon was ranked No.1 this week 168.88 points. Arkansas, Florida State, Texas A&M and Nebraska rounded out the top five. EIU sits just behind Providence in 29th with 31.57 points and Virginia Tech in 30th with 31.13 points. The Panthers sit just ahead of Northern Iowa, Boise State, California and Indiana who rank 32 to 35.