Razorbacks ready for home support in Chile Pepper Festival
FAYETTEVILLE – No. 12 nationally ranked Arkansas races in the Harter’s Habanero 5k at 11:10 a.m. on Saturday during the Chile Pepper Festival on the Agri Park course among a field of 27 teams in this race.
“Chile Pepper is great for us and great for the community,” said Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson. “These young ladies get to compete on their home course and where they do a lot of their training.
“The fan base is going to be here along with high school teams, and the Razorbacks get to perform in a Saturday race along with the high school races. The course will be packed with people yelling and screaming. There will be a lot of excitement on the course and we’re looking forward to that.”
All of the Saturday races in the Chile Pepper Festival will be available on a free live stream through Runnerspace.com at this link: 2024 Chile Pepper Festival. Live results are available through Flashresults.com at this link: Chile Pepper results.
In addition to the Razorbacks, SEC teams entered in the meet include LSU and Texas, who rank fifth and sixth in the South Central region behind the No. 1 Razorbacks.
The rest of the field in the Habanero 5,000m race includes Alabama – Huntsville, Arkansas – Fort Smith, Arkansas – Pine Bluff, CSU Pueblo, Crowder (Mo.), Dallas Baptist, East Central (Ok.), Evangel (Mo.), Harding, Hutchinson (Kan.) CC, Iowa Central CC, Jacksonville State, Oklahoma Baptist, Rice, Southeastern Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin, Southwest Baptist, St. Thomas (Texas), Tarleton State, Texas A&M – Commerce, Texas Southern, UC Santa Barbara, UT Dallas, and Western Colorado.
Western Colorado ranks No. 3 in the NCAA Division II national poll while CSU Pueblo is No. 5. In NJCAA national rankings, Iowa Central is No. 3, Crowder No. 5, and Hutchinson No. 7. Another school in the South Central region poll is No. 7 Rice.
Last season Paityn Noe, as a freshman, led a Razorback 1-2-3-4-10 finish with Sydney Thorvaldson runner-up as Arkansas totaled 20 points for the team win over SMU (89), Western Colorado (121), UT-Arlington (169), and Arkansas State (220).
“Our top three with Paityn, Sydney and Mia Cochran, are very dynamic,” noted Johnson. “We’re looking for our 4-5-6-7. We have some youth we’re trying to develop as well as some older kids who are getting better.
“This is a very exciting team. We’re ranked 12th in the country, so somebody thinks we’re good. We want to meet those standards, continue to get better and progress.”
A majority of the Arkansas squad competing this weekend will be making their debut on the Agri Park course as Razorbacks. A few ran unattached in the collegiate race last year or previously raced on the course while in high school.
A crew of returning runners for Arkansas competed in the Mizzou Opener at the end of August, which included Olivia Pielemeier, Mackenzie Rogers, Tiana LoStracco, Audrey Hill, and Chachi Gonzales.
They were joined by newcomers Ruby Little, Morgan Kirkland, Zoe Marsh, and Madeleine Gear.
