Huntingdon women’s track and field cracks Top-12 on national DIII performance list

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon women's track and field program accomplished another first on Monday.

With the first-year Lady Hawks' performance in the Morehouse Relays on Saturday, two individuals and a Huntingdon relay team are now ranked in the top 12 on the Track & Field Results Reporting System's national Division III top performance list.

This is the first time Huntingdon track and field athletes have been ranked this highly on the list.

As of this past weekend, Kim Allen is ranked eighth in the discus, Patricia Pickens is tied for 12th in the 100 meters and the 4x100 relay team (Pickens, Kyndall Caldwell, Miah Burton and Sheaney Marshall) is seventh.

"This is a very good early indicator of what we can do," Huntingdon women's track and field coach Nate Rucker said. "We had a good performance at the Morehouse Relays and we've been showing improvement each meet. To be able to have Patricia, Kim and a relay team ranked so highly, that speaks highly of our girls and how hard they've been working. It's also a credit to assistant coaches Howard Johnson and Justin Linzy and the way they've helped us prepare for each meet. It's showing in our performances."

Allen had a throw of 39.42 meters in the discus on Saturday and Allen turned in a time of 12.61 seconds in the 100 meters. Pickens, Caldwell, Burton and Marshall ran the 4x100 relay in 49.46 seconds.

Huntingdon will compete in its fourth outdoor meet on March 30-31 at the Emory Classic. Rucker said he hopes to see more Huntingdon athletes represented higher on the list as the season goes on.

"We need to keep moving forward," Rucker said. "It's early in the season and we have to continue to work and improve. I'm very proud of what our girls have been able to do in a short amount of time and I believe if we keep giving it everything we've got, good things are going to happen."