Ben Shearer earns SEC Freshman Runner of the Week honor again

BIRMINGHAM – For the second time this season Arkansas freshman Ben Shearer claimed the SEC Freshman Runner of the Week accolade as announced by the conference office on Tuesday.

Shearer, from The Woodlands, Texas, produced the second fastest time by a freshman in the SEC this season with a 24:07.5 over the 8,000m course at Oklahoma State’s Weis-Crockett Invitational.

Shearer holds the fastest time by a SEC frosh this season with a 23:49.0 from the Chile Pepper Festival held on the Razorback’s Agri Park course. The next best freshman time this season in the SEC at the 8k distance is 24:40.7.

In the final 1,000m of the race, which included a major uphill portion, Shearer improved 11 places to finish 24th among a field of 249 runners. Shearer placed third among Arkansas’ crew as the Razorbacks finished fourth in team scoring.

Shearer’s split of 2:50.7 over that final 1k was the fastest in the field. The next best split at that stage of the race was 2:50.9 by Oklahoma State freshman Will Muirhead, who improved 10 places to finish 12th (23:52.9).