No. 7 Women's @RazorbackTF Readies for 2015 Indoor Season-Opener

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 7 Arkansas women’s track and field team will kick-off the 2015 indoor season by hosting the Arkansas Invitational on Friday at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The meet starts at 2 p.m. with the women’s high jump/men’s shot put and will end after the 4×400-meter relays at 7:10 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

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After the Arkansas Invitational, the Razorbacks will then welcome Texas to the Randal Tyson Track Center for the Arkansas-Texas Dual (Jan. 16), marking the second dual for the two teams.

USTFCCCA PRESEASON RANKINGS
For the fifth season in a row, the Arkansas women’s track and field program will begin the season ranked in the preseason top 10, as the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) ranked the Razorbacks No. 7 in its initial computer rankings that were released on Tuesday afternoon.

A nation-leading eight SEC teams are ranked among the nation’s top-25 on the women’s side, including five of the top seven. Florida is the preseason No. 1, while Texas A&M is No. 2 and Georgia is No. 4. Kentucky checks in at No. 6, the Razorbacks hold down the No. 7 spot, Auburn is ranked No. 18, Mississippi State is No. 20 and Missouri is No. 24.

HALL OF FAME
In recognition of his standout career, University of Arkansas women’s cross country and track and field head coach Lance Harter was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Coaches Hall of Fame on Monday, Dec. 15.

Harter, in his 25th year as the Razorback women’s cross country and track and field head coach, was one of six members of the Class of 2014 inductees and was joined by Chris Daymont, Tom Donnelly, Joey Haines, Ed Nuttycombe and the late Johnny Thomas. The 2014 USTFCCCA Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place Monday, Dec. 15, at the organization’s annual convention in Phoenix.

Through his 25 year career at Arkansas, Harter has led the Razorbacks to 14 NCAA top-five finishes, including four national cross country runner-up performances, and 23 Southeastern Conference (SEC) team titles, including the most recent addition with the 2014 cross country title at Agri Park. Individually, Harter’s Razorback student-athletes have won 15 NCAA event titles and 134 conference event titles.

As a reflection of his Arkansas success on the national level, Harter has been named the USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year on three occasions and SEC Coach of the Year for each of his team’s 23 titles. The Razorbacks’ conference titles including 15 cross country, four indoor track and field and four outdoor track and field crowns. During the 2013-14 athletic season, Arkansas won two—cross country, outdoor track and field—of the three SEC legs.

Prior to his days in Fayetteville, Harter won 13 Division II national team titles at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo which still stands as the fifth-largest collection by a Division II coach in any sport. Individually, he guided his student-athletes to 30 national event titles in his time at Cal Poly-SLO.

In addition to numerous other national and regional coaching awards, Harter has previously been inducted into the Arkansas Hall of Honor, Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame and Cal Poly Hall of Fame. On the international level, Harter served as the assistant coach for Team USA at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and head coach of Team USA at the 1999 IAAF World Championship in Seville, Spain.

A LOOK BACK AT THE 2014 INDOOR SEASON
Head coach Lance Harter and his Razorbacks finished in sixth place at the 2014 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships. Following the national meet, Arkansas earned 19 All-American honors, highlighted by the national champion distance medley relay team of Grace Heymsfield, Chrishuna Williams, Stephanie Brown and Dominique Scott. The top-seeded distance medley relay team made Arkansas history by winning the first-ever distance-medley relay title for the Razorbacks in 11:05.83.

Arkansas took third at the 2014 SEC Indoor Championships, finishing with 93.5 points, behind first-place Florida (102) and Texas A&M in second (96.5). The third-place finished marked the seventh-consecutive year the Razorbacks have finished in the top three at the SEC Indoor Championships.

For the latest information on Arkansas women’s track and field, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.

Fayetteville, the “Track Capital of the World”, will be at the center of the track and field universe on the weekend of March 13-14 as the Razorbacks will host the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center, the home of the “Fastest Indoor Track in the World”. Since the facility’s opening in 2000, Arkansas and the Randal Tyson Track Center have hosted the event 11 times, including nine straight seasons and 11 of the last 13 championships.

A two-day, all-session ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships is $40 for reserved seating and $30 for general admission adult ticket.

Season tickets and NCAA all-session passes are available online at HERE, by contacting the Razorback Athletics Ticket Center via phone at (800) 982-HOGS or in person at the Razorback Athletics Ticket Center, located just east of Baum Stadium at 1295 S. Razorback Rd. in Fayetteville.