FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas men’s cross country Coach Chris Bucknam was not in the mood to be sentimental Friday morning. That can wait for another day.
Bucknam was instead prideful on his final home race day after his Razorbacks clinched a trip to the NCAA Championships next week. With 46 points, Arkansas finished second to Tulane (44) at the NCAA South Central Regional at Agri Park.
“It feels great,” said Bucknam, who announced his retirement last week, effective Dec. 31 after 18 seasons as the team’s head coach.
“We’re going to do our best to be a top-20 team in the country; I think that’s a realistic goal with how many guys we lost last year. I’m just pleased with the team. They’re a lot of fun to coach and I’m having a blast with them.”
The Razorbacks finished 1-4-5-6-31, led by Timothy Chesondin’s winning 10,000-meter time of 28 minutes, 44.4 seconds. Tulane went 2-3-11-12-16, led by runner-up Bernard Cheruiyot in 28:51.3.
Texas A&M’s sixth runner crossed the finish line before Arkansas’ fifth — Jack Williams at 31st in 31:08.2 — but the Razorbacks were carried by the top-heavy finish, well ahead of the Aggies in third place with 83 points. Arkansas’ James Sankei finished fourth in 29:16.7, Brian Masai fifth in 29:21.5 and Ben Shearer sixth in 29:26.1.
“Our top four guys are elite and they showed up today and did what I asked them to do,” Bucknam said. “We’re a little bit not as deep when we get to the fifth, sixth and seventh runners. My hat is off to Jack Williams, though, a Fayetteville kid who hung in there and had his best race of the season. He knew there was a lot on the line for him and for our team to qualify. It was a good effort.”
Masai paced the first half of the race. He was just ahead of Cheruiyot and Chesondin at 5,400 meters.
Chesondin and Cheruiyot were neck and neck at the 8,500-meter mark, but Chesondin pulled away in the final 1,500. It was his second win this year on the course. He also won the 8,000-meter race at the Chile Pepper Festival in October.
“It feels good to run on my course and winning it, taking the title as an individual,” Chesondin said.
The race time was moved up by 90 minutes on a windy, unseasonably warm day that made for a firm course. Bucknam said it was important to adjust the time to take care of the runners.
“This team has to turn around and race in eight days (NCAA meet on Nov. 22 in Columbia, Mo.) along with everybody else in the country, so why take a chance and get overheated?” Bucknam said. “The coaches pushed to start the meet an hour and a half earlier on both sides, and I think that worked out.”
Bucknam said he kept the same race-day routine going to the Agri Park just off campus.
“This sport is hard enough as it is,” Bucknam said. “These guys don’t need to see an emotional wreck. I’m coaching this like it’s my first meet I’ve ever coached, and that’s how I’ll do it all the way to the end.”
VAUGHT ADVANCES
First-year Arkansas women’s cross country Coach Marc Burns was proud of his team’s performance Friday at the NCAA South Central Regional, but said it fell short of the program’s standard.
A 2-10-13-28-80 finish gave the Razorbacks a fourth-place finish at their home course with 127 points, behind regional champion Texas A&M (71 points), second-place qualifier LSU (86) and third-place Tulane (108).
Arkansas is expected to miss the NCAA Championships at Missouri next week for the first time since 2010. The 32-team field will be announced Saturday.
“The standard here is to be top two at this meet,” Burns said. “It’s going to take me a second to just get past that.
“I think a lot of people after our performance two weeks ago (a 14th-place finish at the SEC meet) didn’t think we had a shot, and we never stopped believing we could do it. One through four we made it happen. We just came up one person short today, and that’s going to sting because I know (others) are capable of being in the top 40 and that’s all we needed to get out.”
Redshirt senior Sydney Vaught (formerly Thorvaldson) finished the 6,000-meter race second in 19 minutes, 42.4 seconds behind Texas A&M Corpus-Christi’s Elizabeth Khatevi in 19:33.6. Vaught advanced to the NCAA meet next week to compete for the individual title.
“I’m very excited to be heading to my last nationals,” Vaught said. “I’m really looking forward to it. I really wish the team could be there as well, but now I’m running for my than just myself, because all of those girls really deserve to be there. I think I’m really looking forward to it, to run for them as well.”
Vaught led Khatevi by 5.5 seconds at the 4,500-meter mark, but Khatevi ran the final 1,500 in 4:22.5 to pass Vaught before the finish line. Vaught, who led the entire race until the end, ran the final 1,500 in 4:36.8.
“Going down that final stretch she got me,” Vaught said. “It’s kind of one of those decisions to make: Do you give everything and go, or finish in a good position and (be) feeling good for next week?”
Arkansas’ Josphine Mwaura finished 10th in 10:16.0 after she failed to finish the SEC race with an injury. Olivia Pielemeier was 13th in 20:24.6 and Bradley Weimer was 28th in 21:16.7.
Arkansas’ fifth scorer, Madeleine Gear, finished 80th in 22:24.6. The Razorbacks’ depth was tested this year when Paityn Noe, the seventh-place finisher at the NCAA meet last year, suffered a preseason injury.
