TRACK AND FIELD
Hogs makes moves at West Prelims
University of Arkansas junior All-American distance runners Taylor Werner and Gilbert Boit easily advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 10,000 meters late Thursday night at the West Prelims in Sacramento, Calif.
Werner, who figures to be a key for Arkansas' No. 1-ranked team's national title hopes in Austin, Texas, ran 33:40.81 to finish fourth.
The top-12 individual finishers in each event advance to the NCAA meet.
"Taylor just kind of cruised along," Razorbacks women's Coach Lance Harter said. "The philosophy is to get one of those top 12 tickets that all go to the same place. They don't discriminate if you're 12th or you're fourth or first."
Harter said Werner took the lead for the first 2 miles because the pace was so slow.
"She just forced everybody to run her race," Harter said. "Then because she's coming to run in the 5,000 [Saturday night], we just wanted to make sure that we made it as effortless as we possibly could."
Boit ran 29:00.70 to take seventh.
"Gilbert looked really good, ran very easy," Arkansas men's Coach Chris Bucknam said. "He's definitely a title contender at nationals."
Fifth-year senior Erich Sullins finish fifth in the hammer with a throw of 219 feet, 7 inches to become the first Razorback ever to advance to the NCAA meet in that event.
"It's good to break the ceiling on an event like that for us," Bucknam said. "But what I'm thrilled about is here's a kid that's put in over five years of work.
"Erich came here as a walk-on, and now he's going to the NCAA Championships. It's just a feel-good story for us."
Arkansas sophomore G'Auna Edwards went 20-1 3/4 on her first long jump attempt and finished 10th to advance to the NCAA meet.
"It was not a real good night to long jump, because it rained off and on and there were winds that kept circulating," Harter said. "So sometimes they'd have a tailwind, sometimes they'd have a headwind. But she made the best of it t make sure she's in position to advance."
-- Bob Holt
WRESTLING
UALR joins Pac-12 for inaugural season
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock announced Friday it is joining the Pac-12 Conference for wrestling, beginning with its inaugural season in 2019-20.
UALR joins Arizona State, Oregon State, Stanford, Cal State Bakersfield and Cal Poly in the Pac-12, which has six schools for wrestling. The Sun Belt Conference, which UALR is a member of in other sports, does not have wrestling.
The Pac-12 dropped from six members to five after the 2017 season after Boise State discontinued its wrestling program. The NCAA requires a conference to have at least six members to be eligible for the NCAA championships, but it provides conferences with a two-year transition period to secure a sixth member.
The Trojans will begin their first season in November with home matches being held at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
Sports on 05/25/2019