Razorbacks Earn Four USTFCCCA Honors

NEW ORLEANS, LA— The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced its regional awards, with Arkansas receiving four award winners – one of five schools with four or more award recipients.

WOMEN’S HEAD COACH OF THE YEAR
SOUTH CENTRAL REGION – Lance Harter

Harter has led the way for an Arkansas women’s program that has been ranked number one in the country the entire season. Harter’s Razorbacks scored 151-points to win their fifth-straight Southeastern Conference indoor title and have qualified 15 athletes to the NCAA Championships. Harter is in his 29th year as Head Coach at Arkansas. This is the fifth time that Harter has won this award.

WOMEN’S ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR
SOUTH CENTRAL REGION – Bryan Compton – Arkansas

Compton led Lexi Jacobus to the NCAA No. 2 all-time clearance in the indoor pole vault (15-4¼/ 4.68m) as she captured the SEC title. As a group, Compton’s vaulters lead the nation with a four-person average clearance of 4.46m (14-7¼) as well as holding three of the top-10 marks in program history between Jacobus, Hoggard, and Freier. Compton also helped coached Kelsey Herman to an SEC title in the pentathlon. Compton is in his 20th year at Arkansas. This is the second time in the past three years that Compton has won this award.

WOMEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
SOUTH CENTRAL REGION – Payton Chadwick

Chadwick, a senior from Springdale, Arkansas, is ranked fourth nationally in the 60 hurdles at 7.98 and sixth nationally in the 200 at 22.97. She had a stellar performance at the SEC Championships two weeks ago when she won the 60 hurdles, finished runner-up in the 200 and ran a leg of Arkansas’ fourth-place 4×400 relay. Chadwick is the first athlete from Arkansas to win this award since Dominique Scott in 2015.

WOMEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
SOUTH CENTRAL REGION – Lexi Jacobus

Jacobus, a senior from Cabot, Arkansas, is ranked first nationally in the pole vault at 4.68m (15-4¼), a mark that made won her the SEC individual title and helped her become the second best performer with the second best performance in collegiate history. She carries an undefeated record into the NCAA Championships. This is the second time that Jacobus has won this award in her career (2016).

Arkansas will travel to Birmingham, Ala. for the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships Mar. 8-9 at the Birmingham Crossplex.

ESPN3 will stream the championships live starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time March 8 and starting at 5 p.m. Eastern time March 9. A re-air of the championship will take place starting at 10 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, March 10 on ESPN2 and again Monday, March 11 starting at 10 p.m. Eastern time on ESPNU.

For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.