Razorbacks Advance to NCAA Championships

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas men’s cross country team posted a second-place finish at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships at Agri Park Friday morning, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

“I’m very proud of my team today,” said head coach Chris Bucknam. “I thought we had our best race of the year when the most pressure was on us other than the SEC meet. We didn’t want to be left of being at the National Championships. Our guys ran a really smart race and really did a nice job the last two miles to secure a second-place finish. I think everybody did a really good job across the board,” Bucknam continued.

Matt Young led the way for Arkansas, posting a third-place finish needing only 29 minutes, 9.30 seconds to complete the 10k courses. A trio of Razorbacks followed Young in 13th, 14th, and 15th-place, respectively as Ryan Murphy (30:38.60), Jayce Turner (30:39.80), and Myles Richter (30:43.00) sprinted to the line to sure up scoring for the Razorbacks. Rounding out scoring for Arkansas was Preston Cates in 23rd-place running 31:00.00.

“I just can’t say enough about these guys,” said Bucknam. “They got handed a tough decision with holding Gilbert [Boit] out, and they haven’t flinched. They continue to work hard, we didn’t have a good SEC meet and they bounced back. I’m especially proud of our two freshman Myles Richter and Jayce Turner who had an outstanding meet, of course, Matt young is just so consistent, but there’s a lot left in the tank for the NCAA meet so across the board I’m very pleased”

All-Region Honorees
(Finishers 1-25)
Matt Young
Ryan Murphy
Jayce Turner
Myles Richter
Preston Cates

Arkansas will toe the line at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course Sat., Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind. for the NCAA Championships.

For more information on Arkansas Cross Country including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.