Galligan and Chamney make the Dandy Dozen

IRISH athletes Rose Anne Galligan and Thomas Chamney were among the big guns in US college track and field when their names appeared in Trackwire.com’s Dandy Dozen rankings ahead of the indoor season.

The Dandy Dozen is a power ranking of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each NCAA event. Former Newbridge College student Galligan was given a ranking of seventh for the women’s mile after an impressive cross country season in her freshman year at the University of Tennessee.

Galligan, who turned 19 in December, clocked personal bests at 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000 metres in action for the Lady Volunteers and won the Irish National Junior Cross Country title in November, before finishing 12th at the European Junior Cross Country Championships last month in Italy.

Chamney from Clonmel, a senior at Notre Dame, was ranked fourth in the 800 metres by Trackwire, which uses its Dandy Dozen to project a hypothetical score at the national championships in March.

This team ranking saw Irish coach John McDonnell’s Arkansas men’s team ranked second in the nation behind Florida State, the 2006 NCAA outdoor champions.

There was also good news for Irish coaches with athletes in the Dandy Dozen lists, with Ray Treacy’s Providence team picking up places in the men’s mile with New Zealand’s Max Smith at number four and Iona’s Mick Byrne having top 12 rankings awarded to Englishman Tim Bayley, one place ahead of Chamney, and in the women’s 5000 metres with Salome Kosgei of Kenya.

McDonnell’s Arkansas quartet was ranked second in the distance medley relay lists, one spot ahead of Marcus O’Sullivan’s Villanova team, while Galligan’s Tennessee were ranked eighth in the women’s list for the same event.