Razorbacks host first of three home meets on Saturday
FAYETTEVILLE – The Razorbacks host their first outdoor meet of the season with the Arkansas Spring Invitational on Saturday, April 6, at John McDonnell Field.
The 12 visiting schools include Indian Hills (Iowa) CC, Kansas City, Missouri Western, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma Baptist, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts, Rogers State, Southwest Baptist, Tulsa, and Wichita State.
This will be the first of three meets the Razorbacks host during the outdoor season prior to the NCAA West First Rounds on May 22-25. Arkansas home meets include the John McDonnell Invitational (April 18-19) and Arkansas Twilight (May 3).
“We’re excited to get going with the outdoor season,” noted Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “We sent a partial team with our distance runners to Stanford last week and now we have the rest of the guys competing this Saturday.
“We have a variety of teams coming in. It’s an early season opener for us. We want to get the ball rolling and shake the rust off after the indoor season. We’re out in the elements now with the outdoor season and getting it going.”
Live coverage of the Arkansas Spring Invitational will be available through SEC Network + starting at 1 p.m. with the following link: https://tinyurl.com/cf6x3pzb. Field events begin at 9 a.m. Live results from the meet are available here: https://tinyurl.com/ysr8snfd.
This week Track & Field News produced the first formchart for the NCAA Outdoor Championships and predicts a fourth-place team finish for the Razorbacks.
Arkansas has a current string of four consecutive podium finishes in national championship events – 2023 NCAA Indoor team champions, 2023 NCAA Outdoor runner-up, 2023 NCAA Cross Country fourth place, 2024 NCAA Indoor runner-up.
“We put a lot into the indoor season, with a lot of emotional energy as well as physical energy,” noted Bucknam. “The SEC meet is six weeks away and the NCAA West prelims are eight weeks away. So, we felt like the guys needed a little break. Every year is different, so we’ll see how it goes.”
The Arkansas sprint crew will include James Benson II and Lance Lang in the 100m. Benson is also scheduled for the 200m along with Brandon Battle, Tai Brown, Lance Lang, Steven McElroy, Brevin Sims, TJ Tomlyanovich, and Tevijon Williams.
Arkansas hurdlers in the 110m hurdles include Elijah Morris and William Spencer along with a couple of alums in Matthew Lewis-Banks and Daniel Spejcher.
Grant Williams makes his Razorback debut in his primary event, the 400m hurdles. Williams has a best of 50.82 from the 2022 World U20 Championships while in high school. Last year, competing unattached, he had a season best of 52.94.
Middle distance runners will race over 400m with the foursome of Jadon Bartholomew, Ethan Carney, Isaac Carney, Wyatt Green while Luke George and Riley Wells compete in the 1,500m.
John Kendricks will contest the pole vault while Kason O’Riley and Andrew Hughes are in the high jump and Link Lindsey is in the triple jump.
In preparation for a decathlon during the Mt. SAC Relays next week, the Razorback trio of Yariel Soto Torrado, Jack Turner, and Marcus Weaver will contest the 110m hurdles, pole vault and discus.
