Arkansas track teams set for preliminary meet

FAYETTEVILLE - The necessary evil that Arkansas men’s coach Chris Bucknam and Arkansas women’s coach Lance Harter annually believe should be unnecessary await their track and field teams today through Saturday at the NCAA Outdoor West Preliminary meet in Sacramento, Calif.

The nationally ninth-ranked men have 37 qualified for the West Prelim, though some are injured and not going, while the nationally ninth-ranked women have 22 qualified at a meet where finishing 12th in an event is as good as first to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships June 6-9 in Eugene, Ore.

“We’ve got some people that obviously should qualify and some on the fringe of qualifying,” Harter said. “And we have a couple of people that will be developmental. If there is a positive spin to this meet, it’s the idea that at least some that are not at the national level yet at least get that exposure to postseason competition and maybe provide something to come back and be better for the years to come.”

Bucknam says much the same, but sure would rather have another week for senior AllAmerican sprinter Kenzo Cotton to be recovering from the hamstring injury he suffered during the SEC Outdoor Championships rather than running heats of the 100 and 200 in Sacramento and possibly the 4x100, though Bucknam and sprints coach Doug Case believe there is enough sprint depth for Arkansas, the national 4x100 leader, to advance while subbing for Cotton’s relay leg.

Fortunately for Harter, heptathlon qualifiers advance to Eugene on a descending order list rather than via Sacramento.

So senior Taliyah Brooks, the indoor NCAA and SEC pentathlon champion who was held out of the SEC Outdoor pentathlon because of a bruised heel, will only long jump and run a leg on the 4x100 in Sacramento. Harter said Brooks protested about forfeiting her SEC Outdoor championship to be healthier for the NCAA meet, but this decision is best for her, especially since with injuries and redshirting, Arkansas wasn’t going to repeat for the SEC Outdoor team title that Florida won.

“You can’t do too many of those heptathlons,” Harter said. “They physically take their toll. So even though she was fighting us a bit about it we told her, ‘We’ve been down this road with other athletes. We’ve got to be sure we protect you.’ Ultimately at Eugene, we would like to be a contender for a trophy (the top four teams take the trophy stand in Eugene) and to make that possible, we have to have a healthy Taliyah.”

Arkansas could contend for a third or fourth spot in Eugene provided the since married Weeks twin sisters, Lexi Jacobus and Tori Hoggard, advance without difficulty in Sacramento and repeat their 1-2 NCAA Indoor title.

Nikki Hiltz, third in the NCAA Indoor mile, seems making a remarkable recovery from a

knee injury and could advance in the 1,500 at Sacramento.

Harter counts on steeplechaser Devin Clark, sprinters Jada Baylark and Kiara Parker and hurdler Janeek Brown and both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays advancing to Eugene.

Shakiel Chattoo, the hurdler who clocked an early-season 13.7 110meter hurdles qualifier then reinjured his hamstring, is the latest among a potential NCAA meet scorers that Bucknam leaves injured at home instead of in Sacramento and thus can’t advance to Eugene.

“In January, we had high hopes,” Bucknam said of 2018 indoor and outdoor aspirations.

“But we are not laying down. We are going to fight to the end. We have talented guys that can score points.”

SEC Outdoor 400meter hurdles champ Kemar Mowatt, fourth at last summer’s World Championships and running on both the 4x100 and 4x400, Cameron Griffith, third in the NCAA Indoor mile, and Jack Bruce, last year’s NCAA 5,000-meter runner-up, Cotton and both relays are among those that Bucknam counts as advancing from Sacramento to Eugene which already has qualified decathletes Gabe Moore and Derek Jacobus.