Razorbacks open indoor schedule with Arkansas Invitational
FAYETTEVILLE – The Razorbacks indoor home season begins Friday, January 16, with the Arkansas Invitational at the Randal Tyson Track Center with 14 teams competing.
This is the first of five home meets for the Razorbacks leading up to the NCAA Indoor Championships that Arkansas will host in March.
Teams scheduled to compete in the Arkansas Invitational include Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Central Arkansas, Coffeyville CC, Iowa, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Oral Roberts, Pittsburg State, Southern Mississippi, Stephen F Austin, Texas State, Tennessee, and UT Arlington.
The meet will stream live on SEC Network + at this link starting at 2 p.m. (CT). Live results will be available through flashresults.com. Field events begin at noon while track prelim events start at 12:30 p.m. with finals at 2 p.m.
“I’m very excited, it’s our ice breaker,” said Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson. “We’ve been working very hard and been a long time training. Just to be able to get on the track, get the spikes on and compete once again in our beautiful facility we’re very excited.
“We’re expecting them to go out and compete hard and get used to the rigors of competing week to week. The schedule at home is a pretty difficult schedule with a lot of great competition coming in.”
A mixture of new talent among freshmen and transfers blends with returning Razorbacks who have conference and national scoring experience.
A year ago Sanu Jallow-Lockhart and Analisse Batista earned silver and bronze in the SEC Indoor 800m while Kaylyn Brown claimed bronze in the 400m. At the SEC Outdoor meet Jallow-Lockhart and Brown repeated their silver and bronze medal performances while Saira Prince claimed bronze in the 400m hurdles.
In the distance events Arkansas returns the scoring talents of Paityn Noe and Sydney Vaught. Noe, who missed the cross country season due to an injury, scored eight points at NCAA Outdoor in the 5,000m and 10,000m while picking up three points indoors in the 3,000m and 5,000m.
In SEC Outdoor, Noe won the 10,000m title while runner-up in the 5,000m with Vaught placing third at 10k and fourth in the 5k. At SEC Indoor, Noe won the 5,000m and collected bronze in the 3,000m.
The freshman group includes a trio of California preps with twins Makenna and Morgan Herbst along with Kaylin Edwards. They are joined by sprinters Abigail Campbell, Ryan Jennings, and Asia Thomas.
Transfers to the Arkansas program include high jumper Maria Arboleda, along with sprinters Taejha Badal and Jayda Gibson.
“We feel like we have some really good pieces with the newcomers here,” stated Johnson. “We’ve seen them previously, either in high school or in college, but to see them now under these circumstances is going to give us a lot of insight on how well they compete.”
The first home meet offers a few different race distances than normal as the 300m, 600m, and 1,000m are contested.
“Some will not race in their primary event,” noted Johnson. “This will give them an opportunity to get a feel of the track and see where they’re at. Training is training and competition is competition, you have to be able to switch gears. So, we want to gently switch gears and give them some odd events to get the rust out.”
Each of the Razorbacks home meets will build towards the indoor national championship meet with high caliber squads from the SEC and elsewhere visiting the Tyson Track Center.
“The University of Arkansas and the athletic department have put a lot into track and field here and we’re gracious to show off the facilities that we have,” said Johnson. “It’s an opportunity for our kids to compete in big meets at home against great competition.”
