Arkansas cross country teams open in Stillwater

FAYETTEVILLE — For a change, the College of Arkansas cross nation groups aren’t favored to win SEC championships this 12 months.

Each Arkansas groups completed second in preseason polls to Alabama in voting by SEC coaches.

The Razorbacks’ girls’s workforce, which has received 9 consecutive SEC titles and 22 since Arkansas joined the convention in 1991, acquired six first-place votes to eight for the Crimson Tide.

Arkansas’ males’s workforce, which received the previous two SEC titles and has taken 27 of 31 since becoming a member of the convention, bought 5 first-place votes to Alabama’s six. Tennessee additionally bought a first-place vote for the lads, who’ve two fewer cross nation groups than the ladies.

Coaches aren’t allowed to vote for their very own groups, and Arkansas girls’s Coach Lance Harter and males’s Coach Chris Bucknam stated they voted for Alabama.

“I’m hoping that individuals sleep on us a bit of bit,” Bucknam stated. “Hey, it’s enjoyable regardless of the place you’re ranked.

“We’re simply excited to be beginning the season. I’m glad I’m teaching the workforce and we’re within the combine.”

Each Arkansas groups open the season right now on the Cowboy Preview in Stillwater, Okla., with a area that features host Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, SMU and Tulsa.

Bucknam goes into his fifteenth cross nation season as Arkansas’ coach.

Harter is getting into his thirty fourth and ultimate season at Arkansas. He introduced final 12 months he’ll retire from teaching after the NCAA Out of doors Observe and Area Championships this faculty 12 months.

Chris Johnson, Arkansas’ assistant who coaches the sprinters, will substitute Harter as head coach of the ladies’s cross nation and observe and area groups.

Harter has led the Razorbacks to 44 SEC and 6 nationwide championships in cross nation and observe and area.

“I’m so deep into the forest now, all I can see are the timber,” Harter stated when requested how a lot thought he’s given to this being his ultimate cross nation season as coach. “We’re actually targeted on the problem at hand.”

The UA girls’s workforce can be led by junior All-American Isabel Van Camp together with seniors Gracie Hyde and Julia Paternain, sophomore Taylor Ewert and redshirt freshman Sydney Thorvaldson.

Ewert is again after lacking final season due to a foot harm.

Arkansas additionally can be relying on some inexperienced runners with eight freshmen after the lack of Krissy Gear, Lauren Gregory, Megan Underwood and Logan Jolly.

“We misplaced 4 nice seniors and Alabama introduced their entire workforce again,” Harter stated.

The Razorbacks’ males’s workforce misplaced 4 prime runners in Amon Kemboi, Gilbert Boit, Emmanuel Cheboson and Andrew Kibet, however there may be an skilled returning group.

This can be sophomore Patrick Kiprop’s first cross nation season at Arkansas, however after transferring in January, he has received SEC titles in indoor and out of doors observe. Different skilled runners embody seniors Jacob McLeod, Ryan Murphy, and juniors Myles Richter and Josh Shearer.

“It’s a time for this new crop of athletes to step up and assert themselves and show that they will lead an SEC championship workforce,” Bucknam stated. “That’s what I’m enthusiastic about — to see if they will reply the decision.”