Challenge awaits Razorbacks in SEC Outdoor title defense

OXFORD, Miss. – Championship season has the Arkansas Razorbacks ready to defend their conference title at the SEC Outdoor Championships at the Ole Miss Track and Field Complex this Thursday through Saturday.

Coverage of the meet will be available through SEC Network + (stream and broadcast) Thursday through Saturday. The finals held from 5 to 9 p.m. on Saturday will air on the SEC Network. Live results are available through https://live.deltatiming.com/meets/15663.

Day One – Thursday, May 12

Day Two – Friday, May 13

Day Three – Saturday, May 14

Seeking to complete a second SEC Triple Crown after earning titles in cross country and indoor track and field during the 2021-22 season, Arkansas enters the meet with a No. 18 position in the national team rating index.

SEC schools among the national top 10 this week includes No. 2 Alabama, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Georgia, and No. 6 Texas A&M. Other league schools among the top 25 includes No. 11 Tennessee and No. 15 Kentucky.

On the conference level, which accounts more for team depth, the Razorbacks are ranked second behind Alabama. The rest of the top five includes Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Florida. The next five includes Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, and Auburn.

“I think there is more depth this year in the SEC than I’ve seen over the past 14 years,” said Arkansas men’s associate head coach Doug Case. “Throughout the league everyone has good people on their team this year. It shows up in the national rankings and it will show up when we get to this meet this weekend. Everything is really deep and it’s just a very difficult meet.

“With that being said, we’re going to be in it to win it. We just need to do what we do, and fight to the end, which is what we always do. Scoring it out Alabama looks really strong. They have a lot of depth in the distances and pretty much someone in almost every event and the throws are really deep. They look like the team to beat, and we will go in there and give them a battle.”

Leading the charge for the Razorbacks will be the 110m hurdles along with the distance crew racing in the 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000m, and 10,000m.

Arkansas has ranked No. 1 in event squad rankings for the past three weeks in the 110m hurdles. The Razorbacks are currently 2-3-6-9 in the SEC with a foursome of Tre’Bien Gilbert (13.39w), Phillip Lemonious (13.48), Ayden Owens-Delerme (13.80), and Matthew Lewis-Banks (13.87).

Lemonious has claimed recent victories at the Mt. SAC Relays and Penn Relays while Gilbert finished as runner-up with his windy mark at the Texas Relays. Lewis-Banks registered his first victory as a Razorback during the Arkansas Twilight last weekend.

Decathlete Owens-Delerme, who placed fifth in the 60m hurdles at the SEC Indoor earlier this season, will also compete on the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays this weekend.

Handling decathlon duties this weekend are Daniel Spejcher and Noah Swaby. Last year Spejcher claimed the SEC bronze medal with a 7,479 score while Swaby was a bronze medalist in the 2019 Big Ten Championships while competing for Penn State.

In the steeplechase, the Razorbacks have the second and third fastest times this season with Carter Persyn (8:55.86) and Andrew Kibet (9:00.35). Leading the SEC with an 8:54.05 is Alex Crigger of Tennessee.

Last year, Kibet claimed the silver medal while Emmanuel Cheboson and Persyn finished fourth and fifth for 17 Arkansas points.

Racing in the 5,000m for the Razorbacks are Amon Kemboi, Patrick Kiprop, Myles Richter, Josh Shearer, Jacob McLeod, Ryan Murphy, Cheboson, Kibet, and Persyn.

Kemboi, the defending champion, has the second-best time in the SEC this season with a 13:30.96, trailing a 13:24.48 by Alabama’s Victor Kiprop. Arkansas’ Kiprop ranks third with a 13:35.84. Three more Razorbacks among the conference top 10 include Richter, sixth; Cheboson, ninth; and Shearer, 10^th.

Battling for points in the sprints and middle-distance events includes Roman Turner (100), Connor Washington (200), Amon Kemboi and Elias Schreml (1,500), a 400m crew of Brandon Battle, James Milholen, Jeremy Farr, Phillip Anderson, as well as an 800m squad of Kieran Taylor, Jadon Bartholomew, and Leroy Russell III.

Potential scoring opportunities in the field events will include Christian Matamoros in the high jump, Etamar Bhastekar and Rhett Nelson in the pole vault, along with the long and triple jump duo of John Baker and Ryan Brown.