No. 4 Razorbacks excited to race again, travel to Blazer Classic
The No. 4 Razorbacks return to racing at the Blazer Classic hosted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Arkansas will be part of a nine-team field that competes at 8:15 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, over 8,000m at Veterans Park in Meadowbrook, Ala.
Teams scheduled to compete with the Razorbacks in the Green race at the Blazer Classic include Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt.
No spectators will be allowed on the course as the event will only include participants, coaches, and working staff. Live results will be available at www.xpresstiming.com.
“I think our guys are excited to race again,” said Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “They’re tired of the workouts and looking forward to getting into some competition.
“We get to mix it up with some schools from another conference. We’re looking forward to that and seeing some new faces. That will be really good for us.”
In addition to the Razorbacks, nationally ranked teams among the field include No. 5 Mississippi, No. 12 Kentucky, and No. 13 Tennessee. Three other teams receiving votes include Florida, Florida State and Georgia Tech.
The Rebels won the Louisville Classic with 28 points over Charlotte (69), Kentucky (72) and Tennessee (78) after finishing second in SEC Preview to Arkansas, with the Razorbacks holding a 29-37 edge.
Arkansas will have a crew of 14 Razorbacks competing in the Blazer Classic.
“I thought it would take us a full month to a month and a half to get everybody on the same page,” stated Bucknam. “That seems to have been this case this fall. We’re just now putting our full team together and I’m looking forward to getting everybody out there.”
After opening the season at LSU’s SEC Preview on September 19, the UAB meet will serve as a tune-up for the SEC Championships, which will be held Oct. 30 in Baton Rouge, La.
“It’s an important meet as a tune-up for the SEC Championships,” said Bucknam. “So, we need to have our game faces on, compete hard, and really see where we are at. The first meet we ran was a 6k and we were feeling things out since the guys had not raced in a while coming off their summer training.
“Now it gets real, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we perform under these conditions. We going to have to be on point. It’s going to be a good test for us. After a good month of training, we’re going out there to see what kind of race shape we are in as we get closer to championship season.”
Schools competing in the Gold race at 9:20 a.m. include Alabama-Huntsville, Arkansas State, Auburn, Augusta, Clemson, Lee (Tn.), Mercer, South Alabama, and Troy. A men’s open race follows at 10:25 p.m.
Comments from Coach Bucknam and Coach Harter
