No. 1 Razorbacks Open Championship Season at #SECTF Meet

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Carrying the No. 1 ranking for a second-consecutive week, the top-ranked University of Arkansas women’s track and field team continues its season this weekend at the 2015 SEC Indoor Championships at Nutter Field House in Lexington, Ky. The Razorbacks are four-time champions of the conference indoor meet and have produced 17 top-three SEC finishes in 23 years. Competition begins Friday at 9:15 a.m. (CT) with the start of the pentathlon.

The 2015 SEC Indoor Championships will be streamed live on SEC Network PLUS beginning 2:50 p.m. on Friday and 12:50 p.m. on Saturday. The meet will also air as part of a 90-minute ESPNU highlights show March 9 at 6:30 p.m. Dwight Stones and Larry Rawson will handle the play-by-play and color commentary duties, respectively, with Jill Montgomery reporting from the competition area.

Under the guidance of Hall of Fame head coach Lance Harter, the Razorbacks have won four SEC indoor team titles; the team’s most recent triumph came in 2013. At last year’s meet, Arkansas won three events on its ways to 93.5 points and third-place finish. The Razorbacks have tasted success in Lexington once before with its team title in 2001. The program already has an SEC title to its credit this season with its win at the cross country meet in October.

Arkansas has collected 57 SEC indoor event titles since joining the league in 1991-92. This year’s roster features three past champions in Sparkle McKnight, Dominique Scott and Chrishuna Williams. Scott is the defending meet champion at 5,000 meters while McKnight and Williams were part of the victorious 4×400-meter relay in 2013. Scott’s victory was the program’s 15th win at 5,000 meters, its most of any event.

The Razorbacks enter the weekend with six marks ranked No. 1 among SEC competitors. That list features Scott in the mile (4:32.48) and at 3,000 meters (8:52.57), Williams at 800 meters (2:05.00), Taylor Ellis-Watson at 400 meters (51.72), Sandi Morris in the pole vault (4.65m/15-3) and the DMR of McKnight, Scott, Williams and Diane Robison (11:02.80). The time for Scott over 3,000 meters is also tops in the NCAA.

As typical with competition in the SEC, Arkansas will face a loaded field that includes five of the top-nine teams in the country and eight top-25 teams overall. When the Razorbacks ascended to the top of the Feb. 16 USTFCCCA rankings, it was the program’s first-ever No. 1 ranking in the poll. To cap the indoor season, Arkansas is set to host the 2015 NCAA Championships on Feb. 13-14 at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.

For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.