Colorado State University Athletics
Rams’ men open 2018 outdoor season with program-best No. 15 preseason ranking
3/20/2018 2:29:00 PM | Track & Field
Rams have highest preseason outdoor ranking from USTFCCCA in program history
NEW ORLEANS -- The Colorado State men's track & field team will start the 2018 outdoor season with its highest preseason outdoor ranking in program history, as the Rams were tabbed the country's No. 15 team in this year's first U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division I Men's Outdoor Track & Field National Team Rankings. The organization's preseason rankings were released on Tuesday.
Colorado State has now been in the top 25 in 10 consecutive USTFCCCA computer rankings. CSU is the only men's Mountain West program to be among the top 25 in the USTFCCCA's preseason rankings, and is the highest ranked team on either the men's or women's side (San Diego State – No. 21 women's). The Rams' men also started the 2017-18 indoor season with their highest preseason indoor ranking, No. 6.
The USTFCCCA's computer rankings assign points totals to individual student-athletes based upon how that athlete's career-best marks and times rank based upon historical data. Those points totals for those individual student-athletes are tallied to reach the respective team's points total for that week's rankings. For preseason rankings, any current season bests as well as previous career bests are considered. The purpose of the computer rankings is to project how a team could finish at the NCAA Championships. CSU earned 119.38 points this week.
The top points contributor to the Rams' ranking is senior Mostafa Hassan, who returns the nation's best shot put mark, 69-11/21.31m, by over three feet (66-10.25/20.39m by Virginia's Oghenakpobo Efekoro). Hassan, who placed as the runner-up in that event at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships, owns the outdoor Mountain West and CSU records in the shot put. Hassan is a two-time NCAA champion in the indoor shot put (2017 and 2018), a five-time First-Team All-American, three-time Mountain West Student-Athlete of the Year and a five-time Mountain West champion.
Senior Jerrell Mock is Colorado State's No. 2 points contributor, as his program-record 10,000 meters time of 28:11.80 ranks second among all returners in the NCAA (28:04.95 by Alabama's Alfred Chelanga). Mock, who is outdoor-eligible despite exhausting his indoor eligibility, is a four-time All-American (one first-team honor), a four-time Mountain West champion, a two-time Mountain West Student-Athlete of the Year and an eight-time All-Mountain West performer.
Senior Grant Fischer also returns one of the nation's top 10,000 meters times, as his time of 28:45.83 is the NCAA's eighth-best entering the 2018 outdoor season. Fischer, whose 10,000 time also ranks as the second-best in program history, enters his outdoor campaign as a three-time Second-Team All-American, a Mountain West indoor 5,000 meters champion and a six-time All-Mountain West performer.
Decathlete Hunter Price enters his senior season with the Rams with the seventh-best returning score in the nation (7,801 points). The native of Arvada, Colo., did not compete during the 2017-18 indoor season, but set Mountain West and CSU records in the heptathlon (5,996 points) during the 2016-17 indoor season and the CSU decathlon record last outdoor season. Price is the highest NCAA finisher in the heptathlon in Mountain West history (fourth), and enters this season as a three-time Mountain West champion and nine-time All-Mountain West performer.
Rounding out the Rams' top points contributors is Cole Rockhold, who ranks at No. 14 in the 1,500 meters (3:41.04) leading up to this season. Rockhold, a five-time All-American (three first-team honors), doubled in the mile and 3,000 meters at this past NCAA Indoor Championships to distinguish himself as the only athlete in the nation to complete that feat and the first in CSU history since Bryan Berryhill (2001). Last outdoor season, the six-time All-Mountain West performer earned Honorable Mention All-America honors in the 5,000 meters.
The Colorado State track & field team begins its outdoor season on Saturday, March 24 at the Mines Nature's Bakery Invite. The meet is hosted by the Colorado School of Mines from the Stermole Track & Field Complex in Golden, Colo.
Colorado State has now been in the top 25 in 10 consecutive USTFCCCA computer rankings. CSU is the only men's Mountain West program to be among the top 25 in the USTFCCCA's preseason rankings, and is the highest ranked team on either the men's or women's side (San Diego State – No. 21 women's). The Rams' men also started the 2017-18 indoor season with their highest preseason indoor ranking, No. 6.
The USTFCCCA's computer rankings assign points totals to individual student-athletes based upon how that athlete's career-best marks and times rank based upon historical data. Those points totals for those individual student-athletes are tallied to reach the respective team's points total for that week's rankings. For preseason rankings, any current season bests as well as previous career bests are considered. The purpose of the computer rankings is to project how a team could finish at the NCAA Championships. CSU earned 119.38 points this week.
The top points contributor to the Rams' ranking is senior Mostafa Hassan, who returns the nation's best shot put mark, 69-11/21.31m, by over three feet (66-10.25/20.39m by Virginia's Oghenakpobo Efekoro). Hassan, who placed as the runner-up in that event at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships, owns the outdoor Mountain West and CSU records in the shot put. Hassan is a two-time NCAA champion in the indoor shot put (2017 and 2018), a five-time First-Team All-American, three-time Mountain West Student-Athlete of the Year and a five-time Mountain West champion.
Senior Jerrell Mock is Colorado State's No. 2 points contributor, as his program-record 10,000 meters time of 28:11.80 ranks second among all returners in the NCAA (28:04.95 by Alabama's Alfred Chelanga). Mock, who is outdoor-eligible despite exhausting his indoor eligibility, is a four-time All-American (one first-team honor), a four-time Mountain West champion, a two-time Mountain West Student-Athlete of the Year and an eight-time All-Mountain West performer.
Senior Grant Fischer also returns one of the nation's top 10,000 meters times, as his time of 28:45.83 is the NCAA's eighth-best entering the 2018 outdoor season. Fischer, whose 10,000 time also ranks as the second-best in program history, enters his outdoor campaign as a three-time Second-Team All-American, a Mountain West indoor 5,000 meters champion and a six-time All-Mountain West performer.
Decathlete Hunter Price enters his senior season with the Rams with the seventh-best returning score in the nation (7,801 points). The native of Arvada, Colo., did not compete during the 2017-18 indoor season, but set Mountain West and CSU records in the heptathlon (5,996 points) during the 2016-17 indoor season and the CSU decathlon record last outdoor season. Price is the highest NCAA finisher in the heptathlon in Mountain West history (fourth), and enters this season as a three-time Mountain West champion and nine-time All-Mountain West performer.
Rounding out the Rams' top points contributors is Cole Rockhold, who ranks at No. 14 in the 1,500 meters (3:41.04) leading up to this season. Rockhold, a five-time All-American (three first-team honors), doubled in the mile and 3,000 meters at this past NCAA Indoor Championships to distinguish himself as the only athlete in the nation to complete that feat and the first in CSU history since Bryan Berryhill (2001). Last outdoor season, the six-time All-Mountain West performer earned Honorable Mention All-America honors in the 5,000 meters.
The Colorado State track & field team begins its outdoor season on Saturday, March 24 at the Mines Nature's Bakery Invite. The meet is hosted by the Colorado School of Mines from the Stermole Track & Field Complex in Golden, Colo.
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