MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University Track and Field and Cross Country combined program secured 17th in the Terry Crawford Program of the Year Award rankings, USTFCCCA announced Monday.
 
"We are extremely proud of this ranking," coach Sean Cleary said.
 
The Terry Crawford Program of the Year Award is given to the women's program with the best overall performance in an academic year across cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field, based on the institution's finish at the NCAA Championships.
 
"Our program begins competition the same day as football begins their schedule and finishes after baseball in the spring," coach Cleary added. "To factor into such a prestigious ranking displays the consistency on a national level during all three seasons."
 
To be eligible for the USTFCCCA Program of the Year Award, teams must qualify for each NCAA Championship throughout the academic year. The scoring for the program of the year award is based on the squad's finish at each NCAA Championship, with first place being worth one point, second being worth two points and so on. The institution with the lowest score across the three championships put together is the award winner.
 
"The year started with 349 universities in contention for this honor and ended with 19 that hit the strict criteria," coach Cleary said. "We feel very fortunate to be included with this distinguished group."
 
West Virginia finished at No. 27 in cross country with 27 program of the year points, No. 38 in indoor track and field with 40 POY points and No. 37 in outdoor track and field with 39.5 POY points, for a total of 106.5 points.
 
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