No. 21/22 Razorbacks host 37th annual Chile Pepper Festival

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas, nationally ranked No. 21 by Flotrack and No. 22 in the USTFCCCA coaches poll, returns to action on its home course during the 37th Chile Pepper Festival on Saturday.

The Razorbacks will cover a 5,000m distance at Agri Park with a start time of 11 a.m. for the Harter’s Habanero race. Live coverage of the meet is available through subscription with runnerspace.com at this link: Chile Pepper Festival. Live results are available here: Flash Results.

“So, this meet is really important for us as we prepare for the SEC meet,” noted Arkansas women’s cross country coach Marc Burns. “I think we’re going to have an opportunity to shake the cobwebs off this week and get after it on a fast course. It holds a lot of significance leading into the championship segment.

“Anytime you get to run at your home course is special, especially in a meet like this with the significance over the years and the history of this festival and what it means to the area. Plus we’re going to race this course for the NCAA regional meet, so it fits another purpose this year. It gets our kids ready for the championship segment of the season.”

Tulane enters the meet ranked No. 30 nationally and No. 1 in the South Central region ahead of No. 2 Arkansas. Other ranked teams in the South Central region include No. 4 Texas, No. 7 Rice, No. 10 Stephen F. Austin, and No. 14 UT Arlington.

“We’ll see Texas and also Tulane, who will be a factor at the South Central meet for us,” Burns said. “They will be the main teams we’ll be battling this weekend.”

Among the 62 schools competing in the women’s collegiate division, there are a pair of nationally ranked Division II schools in No. 18 Missouri Southern and No. 20 Nebraska-Kearney along with four NJCAA programs nationally ranked in No. 5 Crowder (Mo.), No. 10 Iowa Central, No. 14 Garden City (Kan.), and No. 20 Cloud County (Kan.).

Arkansas, who will race without Paityn Noe this weekend, will be led by the trio of Sydney Thorvaldson, Josephine Mwaura, and Olivia Pielemeyer.

“We’re holding out Paityn, she’s not ready to run yet,” Burns explained. “She’s coming back from an injury she had this past summer and we’re hoping to have her back at the end of October. She’s running again, but not quite ready to race yet.”

Thorvaldson finished as runner-up to Noe in the 2023 Chile Pepper race with a time of 16:44.1 while Pielemeyer was the fourth Razorback in the 2024 race and placed 25th in 17:11.1. Mwaura, a transfer from Oklahoma State, will make her debut on the Agri Park course.

“Now that I’m learning more about how this meet runs, I think it’s an incredibly important meet for the community and to raise money for the local high schools,” said Burns. “This is a very unique event. I’m excited to be part of it now as an Arkansas coach.”