Cal Men Jump to 16th in Latest National Poll

Cal Men Jump to 16th in Latest National Poll


Feb. 2, 2010


BERKELEY - On the strength of a weekend that saw the Golden Bears post one NCAA automatic qualifying mark and four additional provisional marks, the California men's indoor track & field team jumped six spots in the latest coaches' poll to 16th in the country.

Junior Michael Morrison had the premier result for the Bears at the UW Invitational Jan. 29-30 in Seattle, setting a school record with his total of 5,710 points in the heptathlon, breaking the previous mark by nearly 300 points. Morrison, a transfer from Florida who was 2007 SEC Freshman of the Year, has now automatically qualified for the 2010 NCAA meet.

In addition, junior Kyle Mills-Bunje provisionally qualified for NCAA indoors with his score of 5,504 in the heptathlon, a total that also broke the old Cal record of 5,437 set by Jonas Hallgrimsson in 2004.

Other notable performances that reached the NCAA provisional standard came from Mark Matusak in the 3000 meters (7:55.63), Sebastian Sam in the 800 (1:50.38) and Connor Landry in the pole vault (17-1.50).

Texas A&M tops this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, followed by Florida State and Oregon.

The Bears opened the year rated 20th in the preseason poll and they were 22nd after the first week of action.

Cal will take this week off from competition before returning to Seattle for the Husky Classic Feb. 13. The MPSF championships are Feb. 26-27, also in Seattle, while the NCAA meet is March 12-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division I
Men's Indoor Track & Field National Team Rankings<'/b>
2010 Week #2 - February 2


School Points Last Week
1. Texas A&M 161.54 4
2. Florida State 141.93 1
3. Oregon 117.31 2
4. LSU 112.15 6
5. Florida 109.67 3
6. Nebraska 106.19 5
7. Arkansas 84.14 7
8. Arizona State 82.96 8
9. Oklahoma 81.24 9
10. Stanford 71.69 17
11. Indiana 67.49 16
12. Baylor 67.11 10
13. Minnesota 64.00 12
14. Penn State 63.98 --
15. Texas Tech 61.57 11
16. California 60.68 22
17. Virginia Tech 57.36 13
18. South Carolina 50.90 15
19. New Mexico 44.15 --
20. Auburn 43.95 18
21. Kentucky 43.33 19
22. Georgia 43.21 14
23. Arizona 42.60 20
24. Oklahoma State 37.09 24
25. Washington State 36.60 21

Courtesy Cal