Razorbacks compete in front of home fans at John McDonnell Invitational
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In hosting its first outdoor home meet since 2019, the Arkansas Razorbacks will host a dozen schools in the John McDonnell Invitational, held this Saturday and Sunday, April 24-25, at John McDonnell Field. This will be the first home meet this season with fans allowed to attend.
“We’re excited to have a home meet outdoors,” Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam said. “We have a beautiful facility and when it’s dressed up and ready for a track meet, there’s not many places like it.”
Teams joining Arkansas this weekend include Alabama, Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, Friends, Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts, Tulsa, and Wichita State.
Saturday’s events include a decathlon, six field events and five running events, including an Invitational section of the 5,000m. The decathlon begins at 11 a.m., hammer throw starts at 11:55 a.m., and running events get underway at 5 p.m. On Sunday, field events start at 10 a.m. with the discus while the decathlon resumes at 11 a.m. with running events beginning at noon.
A live stream is available on both days of the meet through SEC Network+, starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday.
“We hope to keep improving on our performance and the strength of our team,” noted Bucknam. “We don’t take any of these meets lightly. We have a lot of work to do, so we’re looking forward to making some progress towards the SEC Championships.
The Invitational 5,000m will include a crew of Razorbacks along with runners from Alabama, Oklahoma State and Tulsa.
Scheduled to race in the 5,000m for Arkansas are Gilbert Boit, Emmanuel Cheboson, Amon Kemboi, Jacob McLeod, Luke Meade, Myles Richter, and Matt Young. The Invitational race will also include Alabama’s duo of Eliud Kipsang and Vincent Kiprop.
“The big race for us this weekend is the 5,000m because that’s not an event you can run every weekend,” said Bucknam. “We’ve got a good lineup and we hope we have good enough weather where we can run some fast times. We have Alabama coming in along with some good runners from Oklahoma State and Tulsa. Hopefully, we can get the job done and get those qualifiers out of the way.”
After his debut in the steeplechase last weekend, Andrew Kibet races at 800m along with Kieran Taylor. Four Razorbacks scheduled to race in the same section of the 400m includes Jalen Brown, Jeremy Farr, James Milholen and Rhayko Schwartz.
Arkansas alum Erich Sullins, who recently produced a mark of 236-6 (72.10) in the hammer to qualify for the Olympic Trials, will compete along with Razorback freshman Ruben Banks, who is getting closer to Sullins UA record of 222-7 (67.84).
Ryan Crouser at Drake Relays
In the Journey to Gold segment of the Drake Relays, Arkansas volunteer assistant Ryan Crouser will compete in the shot put to open his outdoor season. The shot put starts at 3 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, April 24. Live coverage of the meet will air on NBC Sports Network from 2 to 4 p.m. (CT).
Crouser’s last appearance at the Blue Oval occurred this past August, where he produced the second-best series in world history. During the recent indoor season, Crouse bettered the world record during a professional meet hosted at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Stanley Kebenei in Oregon
A collection of Arkansas alums scheduled to compete in the USATF Grand Prix at Oregon Relays on Saturday, April 24, includes Stanley Kebenei competing in the 3,000m steeplechase.
Coverage of the meet will be available on USATF.tv from 1 to 2 p.m. (PT), and NBC Sports Network from 2 to 4 p.m. (PT).
