Arkansas Takes Seventh-Straight Conference Title

LEXINGTON, Ky. –  The top-ranked Arkansas women’s cross country team had five runners finish in the top-10, with four in the top-five, at the Southeastern Conference Cross Country Championships en route to its seventh-consecutive SEC Cross Country title Friday morning. The Razorbacks have now won 20 cross country conference championships, more than the 13 other conference teams combined.

“We came in as the favorite, we wanted to make sure we didn’t take that for granted and that we raced and that it was a competitive effort,” said head coach Lance Harter.

With all five scorers finishing in the top-10, Arkansas scored a total of 21 points, it’s lowest score since 2006 when the Razorbacks scored 17 points. It’s the fifth time in program history that Lance Harter’s squad has scored fewer than 25 points at the SEC Championships since joining the league in 1991. The Razorbacks also became the first school in conference history to win seven cross country title in a row.

“We knew there were three individuals that we had to key on that are repeat All-Americans; [Jessica] Pascoe of Florida, [Jessica] Drop of Georgia, and [Joyce] Kimeli of Auburn. I think each and every one of our kids did a great job of making that personal effort, and obviously the ultimate combination of putting them all together make a great team. To score 21-points at an SEC Championship, that’s rarified air, and we want to respect that and realize that we’ve got bigger fish to fry down the road.”

The senior transfer from Cal-Poly continued her reign of dominance, this time by stepping up and capturing the 15th individual SEC Cross Country title for the Razorbacks in program history – the fourth in the last eight years.

“I talked to Katie before the race and I said ‘hey understand there’s no pecking order here, so if you feel good race well, if you feel like hey I’ll hold my normal position, so be it’ but the idea is we’ve been training really well, don’t ever limit yourself mentally or physically. I think she took advantage of that opportunity today. To have both of those women run ahead of Kimeli gives us a little better barring of where we’re at and what we’re capable of.”

Izzo crossed the line in 19:38.30, followed by Taylor Werner a few seconds later in 19:42.80 for second-place. The aforementioned Kimeli of Auburn broke up the sweep for Arkansas taking third in 19:51.30, but was closely trailed by Razorbacks Carina Viljoen in fourth-place (19:55.50) and Devin Clark in fifth-place (20:07.70). Lauren Gregory, in only her second meet of the season, finished ninth overall at the conference meet 20:34.80 to round out the scoring for Arkansas.

Six Razorbacks earned All-SEC honors with the first four taking first-team honors and Gregory and Maddy Reed who finished 13^th-overall grabbing second-team honors.

A freshman duo earned spots on the All-SEC Freshman team with Quinn Owen and Adoette Vaughn finishing at two of the top-seven freshmen in the field.

“If we can keep everyone healthy, and then have Lauren [Gregory] to continue to close the gap, regional will be a fun effort for us, and we’ll try to focus on certain individuals but certainly that’s the prep and the gateway to getting to nationals,” Harter finished

All-SEC Teams
First Team (Finishers 1-7)
Katie Izzo
Taylor Werner
Carina Viljoen
Devin Clark

Second Team (Finishers 8-14)
Lauren Gregory
Maddy Reed

All-Freshman Team (Top seven freshmen finishers)
Quinn Owen
Adoette Vaughn

Arkansas will take a two-week break from action before returning to the course Nov. 15 in Fayetteville for the NCAA South Central Regional.

For more information on Arkansas Cross Country including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.