No. 12 Arkansas Preps For Pre-National Showdown
Pre-Nationals Notes | Live Results | Live Stream (Subscription Required)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 12 Arkansas women’s cross country team will face its toughest test of the regular season this weekend in Terre Haute, Indiana, racing the nation’s best at the Pre-National Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 15.
In addition to the Razorbacks, seven other nationally-ranked opponents will take the stage at the LaVern Gibson cross country course including No. 2 Colorado, No. 5 Portland, No. 7 Stanford, No. 9 Oregon, No. 13 Michigan, No. 16 Eastern Michigan and No. 22 Virginia.
“Coaches as well as athletes are super excited about the challenge at hand – to test ourselves against the best,” head coach Lance Harter said. “We have an opportunity to truly find where we are in the national rankings. It now becomes a matter of following the race plan and I believe if we do so we will be very happy with the results.”
Arkansas will also be joined by three additional Southeastern Conference teams at the competition: Florida, 2015 conference-runner-up Mississippi State and Missouri.
Freshman Phenoms
Razorback newcomers Abby Gray, Taylor Werner and Carina Viljoen have emerged as three of Arkansas’ top contributors this season each finishing among the squads’ top two performers during at least one competition this year.
As permanent fixtures in the Razorbacks’ top seven, the trio looks to propel Arkansas to its sixth podium finish of the regular season (two team titles at UC Riverside) with solid performances at the loaded Pre-National meet.
2016 5K Leaders
Arkansas is led this year by sophomore Devin Clark, who continues to follow into the footsteps of her former legendary teammate, Dominique Scott-Efurd.
Clark currently ranks second in the conference with her PR from the Chile Pepper Festival of 16 minutes, 19.36 seconds.
She is joined on the leagues’ most recent top-10 list by Werner (third), Therese Haiss (fourth), Viljoen (fifth), Nikki Hiltz (sixth), Regan Ward (seventh) and Sydney Brown (eighth).
Pre-Nationals
Seven Razorbacks will contest the blue 6K race at 10 a.m. CT on Saturday, Oct. 15. Arkansas will also have runners competing in the 6K open at 12:30 p.m.
Live results will be available for the meet through Record Timing. A live stream will also be available to viewers from home who subscribe to FloPro.
Fans are encouraged to engage in the event on social media using the hash tag #PreNats.
2016 Cross Country Schedule
Thurs, Sept. 1 – Cowboy Duals (Stillwater, Okla.) | 1st of 6
Sat, Sept. 17 – Southern Stampede (Joplin, Mo.) | 1st of 2
Sat, Sept. 17 – Riverside Invitational (Riverside, Calif.) | 1st of 20
Sat, Oct. 1 – Chile Pepper Festival (Agri Park) | 1st of 18
Sat, Oct. 15 – Pre-Nationals (Terre Haute, Ind.) 10:00 a.m.
Fri, Oct. 28 – SEC Championship (Agri Park) 11:00 a.m.
Fri, Nov. 11 – NCAA South Central Regional (Agri Park) 10:00 a.m.
Sat, Nov. 19 – NCAA Championship (Terre Haute, Ind.) 10:00 a.m.
Bold denotes a home event.
For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.
