No. 1 Razorbacks Track Hosts NCAA’s Best at Tyson

Courtesy University of Arkansas Athletics Department

FAYETTEVILLE – The No. 1 University of Arkansas men’s track and field team will cap its indoor campaign by hosting the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks enter the meet with a nation-leading 19 entries with scoring opportunities in 13 of the 17 events contested. Competition begins Friday at 10 a.m. (CT) with day one of the heptathlon and continues Saturday at 11 a.m.

Razorbacks Track

The 2013 NCAA Indoor Championships will be streamed live by ESPN3.com Friday beginning at 5:25 p.m. (CT) and Saturday beginning at 5:50 p.m. Early portions of the meet not covered by ESPN3 will be streamed at NCAA.com and ArkansasRazorbacks.com, beginning with the start of competition each day. A tape-delay broadcast of the national meet will air March 17 at 6 p.m. on ESPNU. 

“We talk to the team about keeping the foot on the pedal,” head coach Chris Bucknam said. “That’s what we’ve been doing all year long and we don’t want to change anything. We continue to approach this meet as we do all our other meets which is to keep our foot down on the gas to finish this thing off. We’re going to show up at this meet like we did at the SEC meet, at the Tyson meet, like we did at the Razorback meet and try to do our thing the best we can.” 

Arkansas owns two NCAA-leading marks heading into the national meet. Leoman Momoh clocked a time of 1:46.07 at 800 meters at the Arkansas Final Qualifier to become the seventh-fastest collegian at the distance. The Razorbacks also have a national leader in Tarik Batchelor who owns the NCAA’s top mark in the triple jump. On his way to an SEC event title, the senior Razorback had a personal-best jump of 16.53m/54-2.75. 

The team will also be represented in running events by Akheem Gauntlett and Marek Niit at 200 meters, Anton Kokorin at 400 meters, Tomas Squella, Patrick Rono and Anthony Lieghio at 800 meters, Kemoy Campbell at 3,000 meters, Stanley Kebenei at 5,000 meters and Caleb Cross in the 60-meter hurdles. Arkansas is one of three teams in the men’s competition to qualify both its 4×400-meter and distance-medley relays. 

In addition to Batchelor, the Razorbacks’ field efforts will feature Anthony May II in the high jump and triple jump, defending NCAA champion Andrew Irwin in the pole vault, Raymond Higgs and Jarrion Lawson in the long jump and Kevin Lazas in the heptathlon. 

Arkansas has won 19 NCAA indoor team titles with the last victory coming at the 2006 national meet. The Razorbacks have also racked up 55 NCAA event titles with Irwin and the 4×400-meter relay team of Gauntlett, Niit, Neil Braddy and Ben Skidmore winning last year in Nampa, Idaho. With his win, Irwin became the program’s first indoor national champion in the pole vault. The victory in the 4×400-meter represented Arkansas’ first NCAA title in the event, indoor or outdoor. 

In the March 5 pre-championship release of the USTFCCCA rankings, the Razorbacks held steady at the No. 1 spot in the country. Arkansas has been the top-ranked team in the country all season. The SEC continues to have the top-three teams in the country. Joining the Razorbacks in this week’s poll are No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 15 LSU, No. 23 Ole Miss and No. 24 Auburn.

This weekend marks the 11th national indoor hosting duties for Arkansas (2000-08, 2010). For tickets, visit the Razorback Ticket Center on Razorback Road by Baum Stadium, log on to the online ticket center at ArkansasRazorbacks.com or call 800-982-HOGS (4647). Keep up with Arkansas cross country and track and field with the team’s RazorbackTF Facebook and Twitter pages.

 

2013 NCAA Championships Entries

200 Meters

4. Akheem Gauntlett – 20.73

6. Marek Niit – 20.76

 

400 Meters

12. Anton Kokorin – 46.31

 

800 Meters

1. Leoman Momoh – 1:46.07

3. Tomas Squella – 1:46.76

8. Patrick Rono – 1:47.66

14. Anthony Lieghio – 1:48.56

 

3,000 Meters

15. Kemoy Campbell – 7:53.61

 

5,000 Meters

12. Stanley Kebenei – 13:42.15

 

60m Hurdles

4. Caleb Cross – 7.65

 

4x400m Relay

3. Gauntlett/Kokorin/Southard/Braddy – 3:06.26

 

Distance-Medley Relay

8. Rono/Southard/Lieghio/Campbell – 9:30.22

 

High Jump

13. Anthony May – 2.23m/7-3.75

 

Pole Vault

2. Andrew Irwin – 5.61m/18-4.5

 

Long Jump

3. Raymond Higgs – 7.95m/26-1

8. Jarrion Lawson – 7.84m/25-8.75

 

Triple Jump

1. Tarik Batchelor – 16.53m/54-2.75

11. Anthony May – 16.02m/52-6.75

 

Heptathlon

2. Kevin Lazas – 6,042 points

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