NEW ORLEANS – The Augustana College women's track and field team remained in the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 rankings released on Monday afternoon. The women moved up one spot checking in at No. 16 before heading to the Birmingham, Ala. for the NCAA Championships.
 
New Mexico Highlands jumped up two spots to take over the No. 1 spot for the first time this season earning 162.93 points. Central Missouri remains at the No. 2 spot, while Ashland dropped two spots placing third with 155.46 points.
 
The Vikings collected 50.71 points which is based on how their marks this season would score at a national meet.

The women are led by Bree Woelber's top score in the pentathlon ranking third in NCAA Division II which automatically qualifies her for nationals this weekend. Woelber set a new school record of 3,892 points in the women's pentathlon and a new NSIC record in the high jump at the NSIC Championships on Feb. 15. With these marks, Woelber earned nearly 31.81-point total.

Kayla Mescher took the top mark in the 800-meter run earning a second-place finish at the 2015 NSIC Indoor Track & Field Championships. Mescher clocked a time of 2:13.00 on her way to a new NSIC record to beat Wayne State's Paige Pollard's 2012 record by 1.08 seconds, earning nearly five points towards the Vikings point total.

For the third time this season, Irene Almarcha set a new school record in the women's 60-meter hurdles, finishing second with a time of 8.62 seconds at the NSIC Championships that earned her a spot at the nationals this weekend.
 
Augustana now heads to Birmingham, Ala. for the NCAA Championships that begin on Friday March 13 and conclude on Saturday, March 14.