FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas track coaches Chris Bucknam and Lance Harter expect more than just the janitors to be watching Friday when current All-Americans/2016 U.S. Olympic pole vault candidates Andrew Irwin and Sandi Morris compete in the 12-team Razorback Invitational.
Arkansas' third-ranked men's team and its fifth-ranked women's team will compete Friday (running events 5 p.m.-8:15 p.m.) and Saturday (1:10 p.m.-4:30 p.m.) at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track Center.
It will be Arkansas' first home meet since the Razorbacks swept Texas in a dual meet Jan. 16. In that meet, both schools entered more vaulters than is customary, so the other events were long done and most of the fans were long gone by the time Morris set the college record 15 feet, 1 1/2 before few witnesses.
The women's pole vault competition will begin much earlier this time around with the competition scheduled for 4 p.m. Morris, who is expected to wait for the field to thin out, should start vaulting around 5:30 p.m. Harter said.
Morris is unbeaten for 2015, but her college record lasted for less than 24 hours. Demi Payne of Stephen F. Austin University won the women's pole vault competition at the Texas A&M Invitational on Jan. 17 by clearing 15-2 1/4 and then followed that up last weekend by clearing 15-7 at Albuquerque, N.M.
Morris, a senior, and Payne will compete head to head at the NCAA Indoor Championships, which Arkansas will host March 13-14.
The men's pole vault competition is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday. Irwin may still be vaulting following the day's last race at 8:15 p.m., but the joint should be be jumping. The men's and women's high jumps and men's and women's long jumps commence at 7:30 p.m.
Bucknam said Irwin, a senior from Mount Ida who is a two-time NCAA Indoor champion, barely grazed and dislodged the bar at what would have been a personal-best 19-0 3/4 -- which also would have been a school record -- at last week's Rod McCravy Invitational in Lexington, Ky. Irwin officially won the event with a vault of 18-4 3/4.
"He looks good," Bucknam said.
Every event should look good in this weekend's meet that also will include Florida, Texas A&M, LSU, Stanford, Florida State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Tulsa and Purdue.
Florida ranks second nationally, Texas A&M fourth, Stanford seventh, LSU ninth, Florida State 15th, Oklahoma State 16th, Purdue 20th and Iowa State 23rd.
Among the women's teams, Florida is No. 1, A&M third, Stanford 10th, Florida State 11th and Oklahoma State 13th.
"It's going to be a heck of a meet," Bucknam said. "We ought to get a good idea where we are at from this weekend."
Other than Harter holding back Dominique Scott in an effort to peak at the SEC and NCAA meets after she "shattered our mile record" winning in 4:32.48 last week at Lexington, Harter and Bucknam said their best will compete in their best events this weekend.
"Everything will be full force," Harter said.
Sports on 01/28/2015