Eight Ranked Teams at Razorback Team Invite

Courtesy University of Arkansas Athletics Department

FAYETTEVILLE – The No. 5 University of Arkansas women’s track and field team will host the 11-team Razorback Team Invitational this weekend at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville. With a field that includes eight nationally ranked teams, the meet will be contested Jan. 25-26. Friday’s schedule begins at 1 p.m. (CT) for the multi-event competitions, 4 p.m. for the field events and 6 p.m. for the running events. 

General admission tickets for home meets are $5, while fans 17 years and younger are admitted free and University of Arkansas students get in free with their valid student ID. The first 500 fans in attendance Saturday will receive a pair of Razorback sunglasses courtesy of Pepsi. Doors at the Randal Tyson Track Center open one hour to the start of competition. 

“Nobody can accuse us of ever dodging the competition,” head coach Lance Harter said. “We’re seeing a lot of nationally ranked teams coming in this weekend. We want to continue the march of assembling quality marks, to seed well for the SEC meet and hit those marks that will allow us to advance to the NCAA Championships meet.”

As the fifth-ranked team in the country, the Razorbacks will be the highest ranked teams in the field that will also include No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Florida, No. 12 Arizona, No. 13 Texas, No. 16 Georgia, No. 17 Baylor, No. 23 Nebraska, Florida State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Individually, the two-day meet will also feature three NCAA indoor champions—Brigetta Barrett, Arizona (high jump); Tia Brooks, Oklahoma (shot put) and Kimberly Duncan, LSU (200 meters)—and six national runner-up athletes.

Arkansas moved up two spots in the Jan. 22 release of the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll. The Razorbacks are now the No. 5 team in the country, up from its seventh-place spot in the preseason rankings. Overall, seven teams from the conference are ranked in this week’s poll including four inside the top 10. 

In their last outing, the Razorbacks racked up three NCAA-leading marks, seven event wins, 12 career-best performances and two meet records at the Texas A&M Triangular. During the meet, Arkansas collected wins from Regina George at 400 meters, Martine Borge at 800 meters, Diane Robison at 3,000 meters, Ivanique Kemp in the 60-meter hurdles, Sandi Morris in the pole vault and the 4×400-meter and distance-medley relays. 

For their respective performances, George was named the SEC Co-Runner of the Week while Morris earned SEC Field Athlete of the Week accolades. Arkansas owns national-leading marks with George at 400 meters (53.30), Morris in the pole vault (4.31m/14-1.75) and the 4×400-meter relay (3:36.03). In addition to those three events, the Razorbacks have conference-best efforts from Robison at 3,000 meters and Tamara Myers in the triple jump.

Fans can follow along this weekend with live results via Flash Results, an interactive blog and RazorVision video stream. Updates of the Razorback Team Invitational through Twitter will use the hash tag of #RazInv. 

For more information regarding Razorback track and field or University of Arkansas athletics, please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com. Fans can also keep up with Arkansas cross country and track and field through the team’s sport-specific RazorbackTF Facebook and Twitter pages.