Arkansas hosts Tyson Invitational, distance crew competes in Chicago, Seattle
FAYETTEVILLE – As Arkansas hosts the annual Tyson Invitational this Friday and Saturday in the Randal Tyson Track Center, Razorback distance runners will also be competing in Chicago and Seattle.
The bulk of the Arkansas distance runners will compete in the Husky Classic hosted by Washington while Patrick Kiprop competes in the 5,000m at the Windy City Invitational hosted by Wisconsin in Chicago.
In addition to the No. 1 Razorbacks, the Tyson Invitational will include the following nationally ranked schools: No. 5 Nebraska, No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 15 Florida, No. 16 Iowa, and No. 23 Ole Miss.
“It will be another really good weekend, similar to the Razorback Invitational, with a lot of national caliber athletes and teams competing,” Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam said.
“The regular season is important in that we need to get national qualifiers and get our team lined up for the SEC Championships. We have a team of around 50 athletes, and we can only compete 27 at the conference indoor meet. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
The Razorback Invitational held in January rated as the highest ranked meet in competition score in the United States for the month and is currently second overall among U.S. meets behind the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix held in Boston on the first weekend of February.
Overall rankings of meets held in the world so far this year have the Razorback Invitational ranked fifth.
World Athletics | Competition Rankings
| Score | Meet | |
| 45,276 | New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Boston | Feb. 4 |
| 45,193 | Orlen Copernicus Cup, Toruń, Poland | Feb. 8 |
| 44,951 | Init Indoor Meeting, Karlsruhe, Germany | Jan. 27 |
| 43,711 | Meeting de l’Eure, Val-de-Reuil, France | Feb. 4 |
| 43,509 | Razorback Invitational, Fayetteville, Arkansas | Jan. 27 |
| 43,236 | New Mexico Collegiate Classic, Albuquerque | Feb. 3 |
| 42,828 | Boston University Terrier Classic, Boston | Jan. 27 |
Among the rest of the 32 teams competing are: Arizona, Arizona State, Barton County CC, Butler CC, Campbell, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Little Rock, LSU, Missouri Southern, MIT, Northwestern State, Oklahoma Christian, Oklahoma State, Rutgers, South Dakota, Southern Nazarene, SFA, TAMU-Commerce, TAMU-Texarkana, Texas State, Toronto, UT-Rio Grande Valley, and Youngstown State.
Coverage of the Tyson Invitational will be on SEC Network + beginning at 3 p.m. on Friday and 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
In Seattle, the Husky Classic will be available on Runnerspace.com, which requires a subscription.
A crew of 10 Razorbacks will race at distances covering the mile, 3,000m and 5,000m on the oversized track at the University of Washington.
On Friday Lexington Hilton competes in the fast section of the 3,000m while Myles Richter and Josh Shearer both race in the final section of the 5,000m. Elias Schreml and Ben Shearer race in the final section of the mile on Saturday.
The shot put will be a featured event at the Tyson Invitational on Saturday as the competition will be held inside the track oval.
Arkansas currently has three throwers who are each among the UA all-time top 10 list. Jordan West, recently named the SEC Field Athlete of the Week, headlines the trio that includes Rojé Stona and Ralford Mullings. Joining the fray is Ayden Owens-Delerme, the defending NCAA champion in the heptathlon.
West ranks No. 2 the UA all-time list with a mark of 66-5.75 (20.26), just four and a half inches from the record.
Scheduled to be in attendance is Arkansas alum and school record holder Scott Lofquist, who set the mark of 66-9.25 (20.35) back in 1983.
“I was very impressed with the throwers in New Mexico,” said Bucknam. “Our coach John Newell is going a phenomenal job with those elite throwers. For Jordan to win the competition on his last throw against the defending national champion shows what type of competitor he is.
“That’s an area, moving forward, we think is going to really important to the development of our program and helping our cause to compete for SEC and national titles. It’s going to be a think now and we’re excited about it.”
Friday races include a full assortment of Razorbacks in the 60m hurdles with the multi-event squad joining the fray. James Benson II races in his first 400m of the season after a splendid relay leg on the 4 x 400 in New Mexico last weekend.
The Invitational long jump on Friday includes a pair of Arkansas athletes in John Baker and Ryan Brown.
Saturday’s races include an Invitational 800m, where Chris Bailey joins teammates Leroy Russell III and Ricardo Banks in his debut at the event. Bailey is currently the world leader at 400m (45.09) and 600m (1:15.18) as well as the 4 x 400 relay (3:01.09), where he supplied the fourth fastest split ever at 44.32.
