UA triples its fun with outdoor title
BATON ROUGE — It seemed like old times as Arkansas’ men’s team overwhelmed the rest of the field with an avalanche of points at the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The No. 6 Razorbacks scored 196 points to win by a recordtying 78 Sunday at LSU’S Bernie Moore Stadium. The team title gave Arkansas its first SEC Triple Crown — victories in cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field — since John Mcdonnell’s last season as coach in 2007-2008.
“It was an old-fashioned Arkansas beatdown,” Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam said. “Now I know how Coach Mcdonnell felt.
“The SEC is the best conference in the country, and we’re the strongest team in the country. I’m not afraid to say that.”
It wasn’t even close, either, as Arkansas tied for the largest margin of victory set by the 1994 Razorbacks against a field that included six teams ranked in the top 19, including No. 1 Florida. No. 9 LSU finished second with 118 points, with No. 19 Georgia third at 109 and Florida fourth with 93.
The 11th-ranked Razorbacks women’s team finished third with 111.5 points. No. 2 LSU won the women’s meet with 161.5, and No. 4 Florida was second with 138.
Arkansas’ men entered the final day’s 15 events with a commanding lead and added it to as the Razorbacks won five more individual or relay titles Sunday to go with the three they won the first two days. The day started well with a victory in the 400-meter relay, and Arkansas quickly added victories by Duncan Phillips in the 1,500 and Caleb Cross in the 400 hurdles.
Cross’ victory in the 400 hurdles was by .001 second over Ole Miss’ Carson Blanks. Cross also ran a leg on the winning 400 relay and finished third in the 110 hurdles.
Lane Boyer won the 5,000 meters, and Arkansas freshman Andrew Irwin, the indoor national champion, not only won the pole vault but set an American junior record with a clearance of 18 feet, 9 1/4 inches. That height is also an Olympic “A” standard, meaning Irwin could compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics with a top-three finish at the trials.
The Razorbacks clinched the team victory — although that wasn’t known at the time — when Marek Niit scored two points in the 100-meter dash to give Arkansas 119 points with six events left in the competition.
“It was a lot of fun, I can tell you that,” Bucknam said. “It was nice to enjoy the meet, knowing you had it won.”
The Razorbacks had plenty of scoring punch even without their champions. Arkansas runners finished second and third behind Phillips in the 1,500, Razorbacks finished third and fourth behind Boyer in the 5,000, and five Arkansas runners scored in the top eight of the 800.
Arkansas also scored in the 110 hurdles, the 400, the 200, the high jump and the 1,600 relay.
The team title is Arkansas’ fourth consecutive conference championship dating to 2011 outdoors.
“It’s important to continue the tradition of the Arkansas program,” Bucknam said. “Most programs specialize, but that’s not how we do it.”
The Razorbacks women’s team had one individual champion in Regina George, who won the 400 by .005 over LSU’S Rebecca Alexander. Ivanique Kemp in the 100 hurdles, Kristen Gillespie in the 5,000 and the 1,600 relay team, with George running a leg, had second-place finishes.
Gillespie also finished third in the 1,500, as did the 400 relay team.