SEC Championship race next mission for No. 7 Razorbacks
COLUMBIA, Missouri – No. 7 Arkansas is one of four nationally ranked teams heading into the 2026 SEC Cross Country Championships hosted by Missouri at the Gans Creek Course on Friday, October 30.
The men’s 8,000m race starts at 10:45 a.m. (CT) and will be broadcast on SEC Network. Live results will be available through pttiming.com.
Defending SEC champion Alabama enters the conference meet ranked No. 4 in the nation while Florida is No. 9 and Tennessee is No. 18.
The Razorbacks defeated Tennessee (69-75) at the Gans Creek Classic as the two teams finished first and second to start the season and then finished ahead of Florida and Tennessee at the Nuttycombe Invitational with Arkansas fourth (208), the Gators fifth (221) and the Vols 12th (387).
“A lot of coming to Arkansas, being on the track or with the cross country program, our expectation every time we go to SECs is try to win,” said Razorback men’s cross country coach Cale Wallace. “We’re ranked seventh and Alabama is ranked fourth. Our expectation is still to go win.
“This is the one meet of the year, really, where you’re going to battle for the logo and name on your chest.”
When Missouri hosted the 2021 SEC Championship, Arkansas claimed the team title with 40 points over Ole Miss (59) and Missouri (105). Alabama captured the 2022 title with 59 points as the Razorbacks and Tennessee tied for second place with 64 points.
In 2023, Arkansas earned another SEC team title with 38 points to finish ahead of Alabama (57) and Tennessee (59). The Razorbacks defended their title in 2024 with another 38 point output to defeat Alabama (52) and Ole Miss (122).
Arkansas placed fourth in 2025 with 131 points in finishing behind Alabama (64), Georgia (123), and Oklahoma (126).
Since joining the conference in 1991, the Razorbacks have won a league best 29 SEC Cross Country Championships with Tennessee, who last won in 1990, next best with 25 titles. Arkansas has also produced 17 SEC individual winners by 13 Razorbacks over that span. The most recent was Patrick Kiprop in 2024.
Florida returns the defending SEC individual champion in Kelvin Cheruiyot. Arkansas has a potent 1-2 punch with Ernest Cheruiyot and Nick Busienei leading the Razorbacks this season.
“Looking towards this weekend, Ernest and Nick both feel like they can win the race,” noted Wallace. “They’re both physically in that kind of spot.
“All these guys have something to prove. Ernest has never been a cross country All-American, so he has something to prove. This is Nick’s first cross country season in the NCAA, he’s got a lot to prove. Brian Masai has had some solid cross country seasons but I think he’s ready to show he’s even better than what he has shown in the past.”
Arkansas has enjoyed a solid season with the trio of James Sankei, Allen Bonnesen and Trey Caldwell.
“Coming out of the Nuttycombe Invitational the most impressive thing we learned with our number 3-4-5 runners at that meet experienced a new racing tactic that a couple of them haven’t been used to previously,” Wallace said.
“During the back half of the race with James, AJ, and Trey they moved up 280 spots between 2k to 8k. For James and Trey that was something they had never done before. It was cool to see them realize that this works.
“It showed all the guys that the training we’re doing is working. It set us up well for the next couple of weeks heading into conference.”
The Razorback squad for the conference meet also includes Jackson Free, Gavin Genisio, Trenton Sandler, and Eli Seavey.
“We were ranked 16th going into Nuttycombe and now we’re seventh,” noted Wallace. “That is marked improvement but I think we all feel like we’re still even a little bit better than that. We’re just going into every race saying there is something to prove, something to show.”
