Doug Case named South Central Region Men’s Coach of the Year

FAYETTEVILLE – Completing a sweep of conference and national team titles during the outdoor season earned Arkansas men’s head coach Doug Case the USTFCCCA South Central Region Men’s Coach of the Year.

In his first season as head coach of the Razorback men’s program, Case went four for four in championship meets, sweeping SEC Indoor and Outdoor titles along with NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor championships.

Arkansas dominated the SEC Outdoor meet, scoring 110.5 points and won the team title by 16 points as they produced six individual titles. Jelani Watkins secured high point honors in the meet with 21.25 points as he swept the 100m and 200m titles while anchoring the 4 x 100m relay to a fourth-place finish.

Additional event titles were delivered by Rivaldo Marshall (800m), Brian Masai (1,500m), Ben Shearer (5,000m), and Ernest Cheruiyot (10,000m).

Then Arkansas claimed the national championship without an individual or relay winner, totaling 56 points to finish ahead of a trio of SEC schools – Georgia (49), Tennessee (46), LSU (42) – along with host Oregon (40).

A pair of field event runner-up performances from Jurian Hughes in the long jump and Scottie Vines in the high jump generated 16 points. A second and third place combo in the 800m by Tyrice Taylor and Marshall secured 14 points for the Razorbacks.

Cheruiyot supplied a third place in the 10,000m along with fifth place in the 5,000m for 10 points. Watkins finished third in the 100m while Jordan Pierre placed fifth in the 400m for another set of 10 points. Arkansas finished off the team title with six points in the 4 x 400m relay from placing third.

The Razorbacks, who led NCAA First Rounds entries with 35 and led the NCAA Championship field with 21, scored in eight of the 12 events they had entries.