Razorbacks Rack Up Top SEC Awards
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The No. 6 Arkansas men’s cross country team picked up a number of individual Southeastern Conference awards, following a title-winning performance at the 2016 league meet held on Friday, Oct. 28.
Headlining the Razorback conference honorees was junior Alex George who was named the SEC Runner of the Year after racing to his third-career individual title during the postseason opener at Agri Park. The Gloucester, Great Britain, native has been Arkansas’ leader in three of the four races in which he’s competed this season with his times improving through each competition. George set a new personal best in 8K, completing the course in 23 minutes, 24.90 seconds to earn the program’s 14th individual SEC title since joining the league in 1991.
Alex George SEC Progression
• 2014: Second Team All-SEC, Co-SEC Freshman of the Year (10th)
• 2015: First Team All-SEC (fifth)
• 2016: First Team All-SEC, SEC Runner of the Year (first)
Following in George’s footsteps, Arkansas newcomer Carter Persyn was selected as the SEC Freshman Runner of the Year as the top freshman performer at the conference championship. Already the recipient of two SEC weekly awards this year, Persyn never lost steam and used home-course advantage to best his conference counterparts with a 37th-place finish at the league finale.
George and Persyn both earned All-SEC recognition as well with the former leading the first team and the latter leading the freshman team. Jack Bruce, Frankline Tonui and Andrew Ronoh all raced to spots on the first team All-SEC squad. Arkansas was also represented on the second team by Austen Dalquist who finished ninth overall in the competitive race.
For his efforts in developing the Razorbacks, head coach Chris Bucknam was named the SEC Coach of the Year. Since taking over the program in 2008, Bucknam has coached his squad to seven-consecutive SEC titles – four of which produced individual champions and one of which produced the conference record of 22:58.73 (Kemoy Campbell, 2013).
Arkansas looks to keep the momentum going this weekend at the NCAA South Central Region Championship and capture its fourth-consecutive regional title in front of its home crowd. The regional meet will be held on Friday, Nov. 11, beginning with the women’s 6K race at 11 a.m. CT and closing with the men’s 10K race at 12 p.m. Admission is free to fans of all ages.
Men’s First Team All-SEC
Alex George, Arkansas
Sean Tobin, Ole Miss
MJ Erb, Ole Miss
Jack Bruce, Arkansas
Frankline Tonui, Arkansas
Andrew Ronoh, Arkansas
Jacob Thomson, Kentucky
Men’s Second Team All-SEC
Antibahs Kosgei, Alabama
Austen Dalquist, Arkansas
Robert Domanic, Ole Miss
Craig Engels, Ole Miss
Wes Gallagher, Ole Miss
Ryan Manahan, Ole Miss
Drew White, Missouri
Men’s Freshman All-SEC
Carter Persyn, Arkansas
Jon Bishop, Texas A&M
Matthew Thomas, Kentucky
Brennan Fields, Kentucky
Michael Widmann, Missouri
Colin Schaefer, Florida
James Brinyark, Alabama
For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.
