No. 1 Razorbacks ready to contend for NCAA Indoor Championship
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Anticipating a close encounter for the team title in the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex this weekend, points will be at a premium for No. 1 Arkansas among its 11 entries in nine events.
The Razorbacks hold a slim margin in the national rating index over No. 2 Georgia while the remaining top five teams – Texas Tech, Oregon, and North Carolina A&T – are all capable of contending for the national championship as well.
“Anybody ranked in the top 10 has a shot at winning this weekend,” stated Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “It’s going to be really close. I’ve never seen it, on the men’s side, this balanced in a long time. I don’t think there is any clear favorite.
“Once you get into this meet it’s just going to be a battle. Every event is crucial. We’re going to have to try to not make any mistakes and do what we’re capable of doing. We have a lot of ammunition in terms of how many entries and events we are in, we just need to hit the target. That’s the key to this whole thing.”
Additional teams among the top 10 in the national rating index include Texas, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida State. An additional pair of SEC schools – Kentucky and Ole Miss – rank 11th and 12th heading into the NCAA meet.
Among the top seven schools in the national rating index there are 11 events which involve at least a pair of those programs for head-to-head point battles. In three events – 800m, 4×400 relay, and heptathlon – five of those seven schools have entries while another five events – 60m, 200m, 400m, 60m hurdles, and long jump – have four of those programs with entries.
Leading the Razorbacks effort in challenging for its first NCAA Indoor title since 2013, is heptathlon top seed Ayden Owens, who produced the second-best collegiate mark all-time with his score of 6,272 points this season.
Last year Owens finished third in the NCAA Indoor competing for Michigan with his previous best score of 5,995 points. Joining Owens in the heptathlon is Daniel Spejcher, who produced a career best score of 5,751 this season.
“If you do what got you there, then you are going to have a lot of success,” noted Bucknam. “Ayden just really needs to do what got him there. Our job now is not to over plan or over coach, it’s just about getting them to the meet and let them do their thing.”
Amon Kemboi will race in the 5,000m on Friday and then contest the 3,000m on Saturday. He is seeded fourth in the 3k and 16th in 5k. Kemboi broke the UA record in the 5,000m with a 13:26.44 clocking, which clipped two and half seconds off Alistair Cragg’s previous record, while his career best of 7:42.29 in the 3,000m ranks second to Cragg on the UA all-time list.
Last year Kemboi finished fourth in the 3k and 13th in 5k at the NCAA Indoor meet, then two days later raced in the delayed NCAA Cross Country Championships, placing 11th in the 10k race.
“Amon is running the 5 and the 3, and I thought we did a pretty good job of not getting greedy with our athletes and over working them at the SEC meet, and we were still able to pull off the win,” said Bucknam. “So now, hopefully, we can reap some of that benefit and the guys feel fresh.”
Arkansas was the final team among the 12 that qualified for the distance medley relay and are scheduled to have a line-up of Andrew Kibet, Brandon Battle, Leroy Russell, and Elias Schreml. The Razorbacks qualifying time of 9:24.56 broke the UA school record of 9:28.35 from 2009 and included Kibet on the first leg with Schreml anchoring.
The Razorbacks will have the services on long jumpers John Baker and Ryan Brown, who did not compete in the SEC Indoor. Baker is seeded fifth with a career best of 26-3.5 (8.01) while Brown is seeded 15th with a mark of 25-8 (7.82).
“They look good, and certainly have some fresh legs,” Bucknam said. “You never know, since they haven’t competed in a couple of weeks, but they look good in practice.”
Phillip Lemonious, fourth in the 60m hurdles a year ago, is seeded equal sixth with a season best of 7.66. Kieran Taylor’s career best of 1:47.12 has him seeded fifth in the 800m while a career best of 45.88 for James Benson II has him seeded seventh in the 400m.
With the meet likely to be determined in the final event – the 4×400 relay – Arkansas is seeded fourth and will be in the final section along with Florida, Georgia, and Iowa.
The Razorbacks broke the 4×400 school record this season with a 3:03.18 performance that bettered a 1985 oversized track time of 3:03.34 as well as a 200m banked time of 3:03.50 that previously served as the collegiate record and NCAA meet record in 2013.
Oregon is the defending team champion and return a pair of individual winners in sprinter Micah Williams and triple jumper Emmanuel Ihemeje, who both are seeded second in the 60m and triple jump.
Georgia will rely on scoring in multiple events by Matthew Boling, who will contest the 60m, 200m, long jump and 4×400 relay. Boling is the top seed in the 200m and long jump while the Bulldogs are second in the relay. Georgia also has Kyle Garland, the number two seed in the heptathlon and the silver medalist in 2021.
Texas Tech equaled the Razorbacks in the leading number of entries at 11. The Red Raiders have the top seed in the 60m in Terrance Jones and the second seed in the 800m with Moad Zahafi.
North Carolina A&T enters with the top seed in the 400m with Randolph Ross, who also anchors a potent 4×400 relay that is seeded fifth, along with second seed Leonard Mustari in the 60m hurdles and third seed Javonte Harding in the 200m.
