Women?s track set for SEC meet

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 22 Arkansas Razorback women’s track and field will compete at the SEC Outdoor Championships, Thursday-Sunday, May 14-17, in Gainesville, Fla.

Also competing at Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium this weekend will be Alabama, No. 14 Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, No. 4 LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, No. 12 Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

Returning to the SEC Outdoor Championships this weekend, Arkansas sports one defending champion in junior Katie Stripling in the pole vault and also returns the top finisher from the 2008 event in the 5,000 meters, the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 4×400-meter relay.

Razorback student-athletes hold the top spot in the SEC in four events: 3,000-meter steeplechase (Megan Jackson), 5,000 meters (Catherine White), 10,000 meters (White) and the pole vault (Stripling).

With a bronze finish in the team race at the 2008 SEC Outdoor Championships, the Razorbacks have steadily held a top-seven spot in the SEC’s final standings. In the last 10 years, the Hogs’ highest finish came in 2007 with a runner-up placing. The lowest finish came in 2006 with seventh. In that 10-year stretch (1999-2009), Arkansas has won three SEC titles, earned three runner-up finishes and placed third once.

Freshmen Courtney Blair, Cali George, Brittany Hyter, Taylor Johnson, Whitney Jones, Samantha Learch and Tina Sutej, along with transfers Janice Keppler and Karen Thomas, will be making their SEC Outdoor Championship debut this weekend.

Live results can be found at ArkansasRazorbacks.com. A complete meet recap will be available at ArkansasRazorbacks.com shortly after the final event each day of competition. Fox Sports will televise a tape-delayed broadcast of the 2009 SEC Outdoor Championships Saturday, May 23, 5-7 p.m. CST.

For more information on the 2009 SEC Outdoor Championships, visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com or GatorZone.com.

Download: Meet_Program_x4.pdf