Full Razorback squad races on NCAA Championship course
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Arkansas races on the Panorama Farms course that will host the NCAA Championships in November on Saturday among a field of 38 teams, which includes three other top 30 nationally ranked squads in addition to the No. 21 Razorbacks.
Additional nationally ranked teams competing in the Pre-Nationals hosted by Virginia include the No. 10 host Cavaliers, No. 17 Tennessee, and No. 28 Cal Poly.
“It’s a great opportunity this weekend to stretch our legs a little bit and get an idea of how really good this team is,” noted Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “We had a good opener at Chile Pepper, which is a worthwhile meet for us and a lot of fun.
“Now it gets real. This is a tough course and it’s going to challenge us. We’re going to get a chance to take a peek at this thing, because hopefully we’ll be back here for the NCAA Championships in November.”
All nine cross country regions have a least one top 15 regionally ranked program in the race with a total of 30 of the 38 programs in the field.
Additional teams include the following, separated by region:
| Great Lakes | Purdue (6), Miami [Ohio] (8) |
| Mid-Atlantic | LaSalle (6), Pittsburgh (7), Penn (8) |
| Midwest | Minnesota (7), Kansas (8), Missouri (12), Kansas State (14) |
| Mountain | Wyoming (7), Montana State (9), Weber State (10), Kansas State (14) |
| Northeast | Yale (4), Cornell (8), Dartmouth (9), UMass Lowell (13) |
| South | Tennessee (1), Lipscomb (7) |
| South Central | Arkansas (2) |
| Southeast | Virginia (2), UNC Charlotte (6), Duke (7), Virginia Tech (9), Liberty (10) |
| West | Cal Poly (10), Santa Clara (9), Washington State (10), Arizona (11) |
Race Schedule (ET)
8:45 a.m. | Men’s 8k Orange Race (B Race)
9:40 a.m. | Men’s 8k Blue Race (Championship Race)
10:30 a.m. | Women’s 6k Blue Race (Championship Race)
11:00 a.m. | Women’s 6k Orange Race (B Race)
The race on Saturday covers a distance of 8,000m, while in November the NCAA Championships will cover a distance of 10,000m.
“We’re trying to accomplish two things,” stated Bucknam. “We want to get a good competitive race in, see how we match up against some of these teams, and try to win the race. That’s the goal here, is to win the race.
“Number two is to check out the surroundings, get use to the hotel we’re staying in and everything will be the same when we come back. So, it’s a good precursor and we won’t have any surprises in November.”
The Razorbacks will field a full squad for the Pre-Nationals race as Patrick Kiprop and Jacob McLeod each race for the first time this season.
“We didn’t have a full squad at Chile Pepper, but we do have it now,” said Bucknam. “This will be Patrick’s first race and now we have Jacob back with us after we were able to get a year back of eligibility for him. He’s an all-SEC performer and a sub-four-minute miler.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun on Saturday. We’ll check it out, see where we’re at and go from there.”
