Seven Razorbacks Set for NCAA Outdoor Track Championships

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Seven Razorbacks will head to Sacramento, Calif., next weekend to compete at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Arkansas will send its contingent after the school’s 43rd national championship in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field combined.

Senior Josphat Boit is the only Razorback to compete in multiple events at the national meet. He will double in both the 5,000 and the 10,000-meter runs. Boit turned in the top 10K time of the season at the Mt. SAC Relays and won the 5K at the 2006 NCAA Mideast Regional last weekend in Knoxville, Tenn.

Junior Marc Rodrigues will join Boit in the 10,000-meter run. The South African qualified for the national championships in both the 5K and 10K, but will concentrate solely on the 10K. His withdrawal from the 5,000 helped open the door for teammate Seth Summerside in the same race. Summerside earned an at-large berth in the 5K it was announced by the NCAA late Monday night.

Junior Adam Perkins will take to the track in the 1,500-meter run. Perkins has been fighting a right Achilles injury for the entire outdoor season and competed only at the SEC Championships and the NCAA Mideast Regional. He qualified for the national meet with a fifth-place finish in the 1,500-meter run last weekend at the NCAA Mideast Regional.

Three Razorbacks are slated to compete in field events at the NCAA Championships. Senior Eric Brown enters the national meet as the country’s top-ranked athlete in the javelin. Brown won his second-consecutive javelin crown last weekend at the NCAA Mideast Regional. He is attempting to become the first Razorback to win the NCAA javelin individual championship.

Freshman Nkosinza Balumbu will be making his first NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance. The meet will be a homecoming for Balumbu, who hails from Union City, Calif., which is 100 miles from Sacramento. Balumbu is nationally ranked in the triple jump and will compete in that event.

Junior Greg Martin earned his spot in his second NCAA outdoor meet with a fifth-place finish in the high jump at the NCAA Mideast Regional. Martin also qualified for the national meet as a freshman in 2004. The Texan finished second in the high jump at the SEC Championships after clearing a career-best height of 7-1.

Competition at Hornet Stadium at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex begins on Wednesday and runs through Saturday. On Saturday, CBS Sports will provide live coverage of the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships from 2:30-5 p.m. CT.