Schreml, Kiprop pace Razorbacks to fourth in Weis-Crockett Invitational

STILLWATER, Okla. – Arkansas finished fourth in the Weis-Crockett Invitational hosted by Oklahoma State on Saturday morning as Elias Schreml and Patrick Kiprop paced the Razorbacks by placing 10th and 13th over an 8,000m course.

Schreml covered the distance in 23:48.6 while Kiprop finished in 23:53.5 over the challenging OSU course that will host the NCAA Championships in November. Duncan Hamilton of Montana State won the individual title in 23:28.8 ahead of Butler’s Barry Keane (23:30.7).

“We had a good team competition today,” noted Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “I hoped we would have been a little bit higher, but we’ve been working terribly hard in practice. We purposely came to this meet on this week to get on something tough at the end of a really hard cycle. Let’s just hope that we’ve timed it out right in time for the conference championship.

“It’s not unexpected how we did today, considering where we’re at in training and what I’m trying to get done with this team.”

Among the lead group in the early stages of the race, Kiprop led at 2k (5:51.6). Near 5k, Kiprop (14:31.3) was in fourth place while Schreml (14:31.6) advanced into the top 10. Then at 6k, Schreml (17:41.9) was stationed in fourth and Kiprop (17:42.4) in eighth.

Completing 7k of the race, Schreml and Kiprop were in eighth and ninth place with splits of 20:43.3 and 20:45.5.

“It was challenging for sure, but I think I did pretty well,” Schreml said of the course. “It was sad that I couldn’t race at Chile Pepper. Now, I’m excited to race at the SEC meet.”

No. 21 Arkansas totaled 116 points in placing fourth behind No. 25 Montana State (62), No. 29 California Baptist (63), and Butler (97). Finishing behind the Razorbacks were UCLA (186), South Dakota State (193), Wyoming (199), No. 4 Oklahoma State (210), Portland State (258), and Southern Utah (274).

The one-point difference between the top two teams included adjusted scores of 1-3-7-17-34 for Montana State compared to 5-8-10-18-22 for California Baptist. Arkansas’ adjusted score included 9-12-23-27-45.

Ben Shearer was the third Arkansas runner, placing 24th in 24:07.5, while Myles Richter placed fourth among the Razorbacks, finishing 28th in 24:11.8. The fifth runner to complete Arkansas’ team score was Josh Shearer, placing 46th in 24:30.4.

In the closing 1,000m of the race, Ben improved 11 positions.

“We had a nice breakthrough run with Elias,” stated Bucknam. “Myles looked 100 percent better. Ben and Josh Shearer also continued to have another good race.”

Also racing for the Razorbacks were Jacob McLeod (62, 24:41.8) and Jack Williams (130, 25:24.7).

Top 20 Teams: 1. No. 25 Montana State, 62; 2. No. 29 California Baptist, 63; 3. Butler, 97; 4. No. 21 Arkansas, 116; 5. UCLA, 186; 6. South Dakota State, 193; 7. Wyoming, 199; 8. No. 4 Oklahoma State, 210; 9. Portland State, 258; 10. Southern Utah, 274; 11. Liberty, 307; 12. Washington State, 349; 13. Purdue, 366; 14. Pittsburgh, 402; 15. Kansas State, 403; 16. Missouri, 407; 17. Iowa, 426; 18. UC Santa Barbara, 457; 19. DePaul, 488; 20. Charleston Southern, 502.