Arkansas Ready for SEC Championships

FAYETTEVILLE – The University of Arkansas Lady Razorback track and field team has its work cut out for it when it takes on the some of the best track teams in the nation at the 2005 Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville beginning Friday at 4:00 p.m.

The defending SEC outdoor track champions, Arkansas finished sixth at the meet a year ago proving that on any given day anything can happen. “Last year we finished sixth with two Olympians, one of which didn’t even make the finals,” Arkansas head coach Lance Harter said. “That just shows you what type of conference we compete in day in and day out. This is going to be a tough championships for anyone to win, no team seems to be that much better than anyone else so we’ll all have to rely on help from the other schools.”

Leading the way for Arkansas on Friday evening is the tandem of senior Beyonka McDowell and freshman Whitney Anderson in the pentathlon. The five-event competition begins at 5:00 p.m. for the women with the 60-meter hurdles with McDowell entering the affair with the conference’s best mark. She scored 3,827 points at the Razorback Invitational in January and ranks 15th in the nation in the event. McDowell will be challenged by many at the meet including all-American Chelsea Hammond of South Carolina who has yet to compete in the event in 2005.

For Anderson, the indoor meet stands as her first foray into SEC Championship competition. Currently the sixth-ranked pentathlete in the league, Anderson has a career best mark of 3,140 points and should improve on that mark significantly as she has excelled in each of the five disciplines.

SEC Championship action continues on Saturday afternoon with several finals and preliminary action and concludes on Sunday.

For more information about Lady Razorback track or about Arkansas women’s athletics, please go to www.ladybacks.com.