Arkansas distance crew opens outdoor at Hayward Premiere

EUGENE, Ore. – The Hayward Premiere hosted by the University of Oregon this Friday and Saturday offers an opportunity for the Razorback distance crew to start its outdoor season in ideal conditions as they explore the remodeled Hayward Field, the host site this summer for the NCAA Championships and U.S. Olympic Trials.

“The Oregon meet is more of a distance carnival this weekend,” noted Arkansas women’s head coach Lance Harter. “Traditionally this is usually the weekend at Stanford, but due to some limitations they are enduring with covid restrictions Oregon has picked it up and we are going to the inaugural of the new world’s greatest facility in track and field.

“We’re really forward to an opportunity for the distance crew to shake off the rust from a recent break from the indoor and cross country nationals. We’re excited with the kickoff of the outdoor season and look forward to nice weather and great competition.”

Friday’s running events, which include distances from 1,500 to the 10,000, start at 5:20 p.m. (PT). On Saturday, running events starting a 1:05 p.m.

A free live stream is available through RunnerSpace while live results will be available through AthleticLive.

A change in qualifying numbers this season for the NCAA preliminary rounds have cut the numbers per event from 48 to 32 for each of the two regions. So, a goal this weekend is to generate times that will establish someone in good standing among the top 32 times.

“Now that we go to the outdoor qualifying procedure, which is a descending order of the top 32 marks in the West region, this will probably be the initiator in this meet of attacking those marks,” stated Harter. “I know last week the Raleigh Relays kind of took care of the East region in the distances, and now this will be the opportunity for the West region to strut their stuff.

“The one event that is real key for our scheduling is the 10,000 with Katie Izzo running for us. We are also looking for some really good 5,000 and 1,500 races as well as a couple of 800s.”

In addition to Izzo racing the 10,000, the Razorbacks will have Abby Gray, Gracie Hyde and Logan Morris in the Invitational 5,000m. Krissy Gear, Kennedy Thomson and Carina Viljoen contest the Invitational 1,500 while Quinn Owen joins Thomson in the Invitational 800.

Schools joining Arkansas in the Hayward Premiere include Boise State, BYU, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Oregon State, Portland, Portland State, Southern Utah, Tulsa, UC Davis, Utah, Washington State, Weber State, and Wichita State.

“BYU, New Mexico and Oregon will all be there and bring their full rosters,” said Harter. “We look forward to the challenge at hand, but also kind of getting the outdoor season started.

“Part of the experience is not only to open up and get a mark, but also to witness this facility. Because it will be a little bit of awe when you walk in. It’s as close to an Olympic facility as they come. I think we want to get that awe factor out of the way before we go back in June for the NCAA Championships as well as for the Olympic Trials.”