SEC Indoor Coach of the Year honor for Chris Bucknam

BIRMINGHAM – Winning a fifth consecutive conference indoor championship produced a fifth consecutive SEC Indoor Coach of the Year honor for Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam, the 12th indoor accolade in his 16th year with the Razorbacks.

Voting by the SEC coaches had freshman pole vaulter John Kendricks earning Freshman Field Athlete of the Year honors. Kendricks finished fourth in the SEC Indoor meet and was the top freshman among three competing in the field of 21 vaulters.

Overall, this is Bucknam’s 31st SEC Coach of the Year honor. The 12 indoor honors are followed by 11 in cross country and eight during the outdoor season.

The recent conference team victory produced the most points scored since the league’s current configuration of 13 men’s teams. Arkansas totaled 163 points in winning the meet by 63 points.

In the history of the SEC, scoring the total is third best all-time, trailing 181 points scored by the Razorbacks in 1998 and 168 points scored by Arkansas in 2000.

Distance points accounted for 52 points in the recent conference meet. Freshman Peter Maru shared the high-point honor with 20 points from sweeping the 3,000m and 5,000m titles, setting meet records with each victory.

Arkansas scored 21 points in the 5,000m and 19 points in the 3,000m while adding six points each in the mile and distance medley relay.

Kendricks cleared 17-2.75 (5.25) in the conference meet to score five team points with his fourth-place effort. Twice this indoor season Kendricks cleared a career best height of 17-8.5 (5.40), moving to equal No. 5 on the Arkansas all-time list.

The mark ranks Kendricks third among freshman this season, trailing marks of 17-10.5 (5.45) by Brenden Vanderpool of Samford and a 17-9.75 (5.43) by Anthony Meacham of Kansas. The next best SEC freshman is Georgia’s Nikolai van Huyssteen at 17-6.5 (5.35).