No. 20 Arkansas prepared to race in frigid NCAA Championships

STILLWATER, Okla. – The 2022 cross country season culminates with the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning as the No. 20 Razorbacks compete at 10:10 a.m. over a 10,000m distance on the Oklahoma State course.

Admission is $10 to the meet (https://bit.ly/3EEGTX1) and coverage of the race will be on ESPNU. Live results are available here: https://live.pttiming.com/XC-PTT.html?mid=5234.

“I feel as good as I have all year about this team,” said Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “We had a very good meet in the South Central Region and probably felt we had our best performance of the season. It was our first 10k as we move from a five-mile to six-mile race in the championship season.”

A challenging course combined with frigid conditions, expected to be in the 20s with the wind chill, may alter who is favored for team and individual honors among the 31 teams and 250-plus runners.

“It will be about the preparation prior to the race, keeping our guys as warm as possible leading into the race,” noted Bucknam. “So, that just takes some logistics. We get to the course an hour and a half before the race starts. We get into a cold tent and it’s not real comfortable when there is a wind chill. We’re prepared to get our tent heated up to keep those guys really warm and get them to the starting line.

“I’m not a big believer in racing in layers. Once they get into the race, I just like to have them in a pair of gloves and maybe a head band.”

Among the elite cross country teams in the nation, Arkansas has produced a top six finish in five of the past seven years, placing fourth the past two NCAA Championships, fifth in 2016 and 2017, while sixth in 2015.

Patrick Kiprop, who won the South Central Region individual title, leads a Razorback squad that had five runners earn All-Region honors by placing among the top 25 in the region meet.

In addition to Kiprop, the Razorback crew earning All-Region included Elias Schreml, Jacob McLeod, Myles Richter, and Ryan Murphy. Arkansas will also have the services of Josh and Ben Shearer. Josh was the six Razorback in the region meet while Ben, the SEC Freshman Runner of the Year, did not race.

“For Patrick his legs are under him now,” said Bucknam. “He had a good performance in the region meet and we’ve tucked in a few more workouts with him and it’s paid off. We didn’t race Ben in the region meet, we held him out. This is his first go around and we just felt we could afford to rest one of our top five guys and that’s who I chose. His legs should feel good for a good race.

“We look to see how those guys look after the race and how they recover. They look good and they survived it. They’re feeling good this week. We’re probably in the best position we’ve been in all year to have one more good race.”

The top five nationally ranked programs heading into the national championship meet include No. 1 Stanford, defending champion No. 2 Northern Arizona, No. 3 BYU, No. 4 Oklahoma State, and No. 5 Tulsa.

Four SEC schools are entered in the meet – No. 14 Tennessee, No. 20 Arkansas, No. 25 Alabama, and No. 29 Ole Miss. Those squads were separated by only six points in the SEC Championships last month.

After tying Tennessee for second place in the conference meet, the Razorbacks won the South Central Region over Texas. Meanwhile, in the South Region, Tennessee bettered Ole Miss (39-69) while SEC champion Alabama (73) finished third.

SEC schools with individuals in the NCAA Championship field include Auburn, Missouri, and Texas A&M.