NEW ORLEANS, La. – In the third week of the United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national rankings, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs track & field teams each improved in their rankings as they competed at the hometown Colorado Running Company Mountain Lion Open. The women's team moved up five slots to No. 7 with 76.17 points, while the men's team jumped three spots to No. 28 with 31.14 points.

On the women's side, Grand Valley State University tops the rankings with 210.12 points while Lincoln University ranks as the top men's team in DII with 142.87 points.

For the Mountain Lion men, 10 student-athletes have combined for 11 provisional marks so far this season with two of those marks ranking top-10 in the nation:

• Will Ross (Long Jump) – 7^th 7.42m
• Dakota Abbott (Triple Jump) – 4^th 15.30m

The UCCS women have six Mountain Lions who have registered nine provisional marks with six of the marks ranking top-10 within Division II:

• Kayla Wooten (Mile) – 8^th 4:52.76
• Maia Austin (Mile) – 10^th 4:53.51
• Hannah Meek (Long Jump) – 3^rd 6.08m
• Kaija Crowe (Long Jump) – 10^th 5.80m
• Hannah Meek (Triple Jump) – 4^rd 12.26m
• DMR (Maia Austin, Dejah Glover, Layla Almasri, Wooten) – 3^rd 11:39.28
   

UCCS' next meet comes this weekend as they travel south to Lubbock, Texas for the Texas Tech Shootout on Friday, Feb. 14. and Saturday, Feb. 15.