April 17, 2012
National Rankings 
NEW ORLEANS -
For the first time in head coach Elvis Forde's tenure, the Illinois State women's track & field team has jumped 21 spots, ascending into the NCAA Division I Track & Field National Rankings at No. 25. The only other Missouri Valley Conference team ranked in the top-25 is Southern Illinois, sitting at No. 23.
Forde couldn't be more proud of his women's team.
"It's a testament to how hard our women's team has been working this outdoor season," said Forde. "We have our standout athletes, however, it's how well the team gels together that allows us all to perform at a high level. The sky is the limit with this group of and if we continue to work hard and get more people on the national list, it will go a long way. This gives us a confidence boost that we are good enough to compete against the top schools in the nation and hopefully we can carry this swagger with us into the Valley Championships and redeem ourselves after a disappointing third-place finish during indoors."
For the third-straight year, national team rankings are compiled by a mathematical formula based on national descending order lists and data taken from previous seasons. The purpose and methodology of the rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national-team race.
Helping the Redbird women ascend into the national rankings were Sade Sealy, Brittany Smith, Tori Ziegler and Leigh Petranoff, who all rank in the top-50 for their respective events. Sealy is ranked 39th in the 400m with a time of 53.48, while Ziegler is ranked 34th in the shot put with a mark of 52-02.50. Smith is ranked in the top-10 of all three of her disciplines (SP-2nd, DT-9th, HT-9th), while Petranoff ranks sixth in the javelin with a distance of 173-03. As a result, these four combined for a total of 83.19 points, moving them into the national top-25.
The Redbird women are back in action this weekend, as the women's distance crew travels to Walnut, Calif., to compete in the Mt. SAC Relays, while the rest head to Louisville, Ky., Friday for a quad meet, before shipping up to Vanderbilt on Saturday.
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