NEW ORLEANS, La. – There was minimal movement for the Plymouth State University outdoor track & field teams in the regional rankings, as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released its third Track & Field Rating Index (TFRI) of the season this week.
 
The women climbed three spots to No. 20 in the Northeast Region with 82.88 points, while the men slipped two places to No. 21 with 63.71 points.
 
The women's top five regional performances all came last weekend. Sophomore Amelia Lefebvre (Greenland, N.H.) scored 3,695 points in the heptathlon at the Tufts Spring Invitational to rank eighth, while classmate Ani Flynn (Plymouth, N.H.), freshmen Lisi Palmer (Brunswick, Maine) and Clare Tuohy (Sunapee, N.H.) and the Panthers' 4x100-meter relay all posted strong performances at the Ed Daniels Classic at Southern New Hampshire University. Flynn ran 15.53 in the 100-meter hurdles to rank 10th, Palmer cleared 1.57 meters in the high jump to rank 11th, and Tuohy clocked a school-record 59.13 in the 400 meters to rank 15th. Senior Cass Hanson (Stetson, Maine) joined Flynn, Palmer and Tuohy on the 4x100-meter relay, which also set a program record time of 49.75 to rank 12th in the region.
 
The bulk of the men's points came from the Little East Conference Relay Team of the Week – PSU's 4x400-meter relay squad of freshmen Cam Lee (Northwood, N.H.) and Jiasen Smith (Lisbon, N.H.), sophomore Isaias Aguasvivas Pena (Marblehead, Mass.) and senior Zach Hodge (Springfield, N.H.). The quartet posted a time of 3:27.12 to rank ninth in the region. Other top regional performances came from senior Joel Newman (Natick, Mass.), who cleared 1.83 meters in the high jump to rank 21st, and juniors Ben Colby (Manchester, N.H.) and Cooper O'Neil (Millbury, Mass.), who ran 10:13.72 and 10:14.52 to rank 21st and 23rd, respectively, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
 
The TFRI is a complex mathematical system used as the benchmark to rank collegiate track and field teams since 2008.
 
Select members head to MIT for the Sean Collier Invitational this weekend, while the majority of the team will compete at the Middlebury Invitational on Saturday (Apr. 18).