FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' track and field teams begin their quests today in Austin, Texas, to win a national championship, but the Razorbacks will have to wait two weeks and travel more than 2,200 miles to Eugene, Ore., to complete the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
This weekend, Arkansas is among the schools competing at the NCAA West Preliminaries at Texas' Myers Stadium. The top 12 finishers in each event advance to Eugene.
NCAA WEST PRELIMINARIES
WHEN Today-Saturday
WHERE Myers Stadium, Austin, Texas
AT STAKE The top 12 finishers in each event advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 10-13 in Eugene, Ore.
"At the SEC meet, it's all there in a neat package over three days," said Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam, who led the Razorbacks men's team to the 2013 NCAA Indoor championship. "It's hard when the semis and finals are two weeks away.
"It's so different from what we normally do, but we've got to be on point and understand the situation and treat this as a final and not even think about Eugene.
"That's our focus, and that's what we're trying to embrace. This is the meet right in front of us, and we've got to execute."
Arkansas Coach Lance Harter, whose women's team won this year's NCAA Indoor title, said the preliminary meet isn't spectator friendly.
"You're not going to see records, you're not going to see in many respects the ultimate competition, because the horses up front are going, 'OK, we're just going to make sure we're in the top 12,' " Harter said. "There's no team scoring.
"It's all about, 'Thanks for coming. You're in the top 12. Enjoy your trip home.' "
Arkansas' No. 2-ranked women's team will have 17 athletes competing in 24 individual events and the 1,600-meter relay, led by seniors Dominic Scott, Sandi Morris and Chrishuna Williams.
Scott (10,000), Morris (pole vault) and Williams (800) are national leaders in their events. Scott also is among the top runners in the 5,000, and she'll run both events this weekend. Junior Taylor-Ellis Watson ranks second in the 400 meters.
Scott won the 3,000 and Morris won the pole vault at the NCAA Indoor meet.
"All 12 tickets advance to the same place, so you don't have to win," Harter said. "Just go out there and pace your way through it. We have an upperclassman type of team, so they've been there, they've done that. Now it's a matter of executing to make sure you do it again."
Arkansas' No. 5-ranked men's team has 10 athletes in 11 individual events along with the 400 and 1,600 relays.
Razorbacks who lead the West in their events are seniors Kemoy Campbell (5,000), Stanley Kebenei (3,000 steeplechase) and Andrew Irwin (pole vault) and sophomore Omar McLeod (110 hurdles). Junior Jarrion Lawson will compete in the long jump as well as running the 100 and legs on both relays. McLeod also will run on both relays.
Campbell will double in the 10,000, and Kebenei will double in the 5,000.
Irwin, Lawson and McLeod have all won NCAA titles, and Campbell and Kebenei are All-Americans who have finished second at national meets.
"I'm going to walk into that stadium feeling good that we've got experienced athletes who have gone through the gauntlet before," Bucknam said. "Our guys are highly motivated."
Harter called the preliminary meets "a necessary evil" that might eventually be eliminated by the NCAA in favor of returning to the use of a descending order list of top performances during the season to determine the field for the national outdoor meet. That's the formula used for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
"Every year or two there's a rumblings about, 'Well, maybe we should re-evaluate and discuss if we should keep doing it with regionals,' " Harter said. "I think the athletic directors are starting to become more sensitive about the financial burden of this meet, and they're also wondering is it truly what's best for the student-athletes themselves.
"If people think it's going to draw a crowd, I haven't seen it thus far. There are a lot of parents who go, but the general fan I think says, 'Hey, let's wait and see the national championships.'
"Hopefully, one of these days the NCAA track and field committee or the athletic directors will say, 'Hey, enough's enough.' "
Sports on 05/28/2015