This article originally appeared in the November 8, 2012 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.
The NCAA South Central Regional Cross
Country meet will be held at Agri Park in Fayetteville tomorrow. Both the men’s
and women’s Razorback cross country teams will compete.
The men’s team is ranked No. 10 in the
country and is coming off of their 20th Southeastern Conference Championship in
22 years.
“Obviously we’re happy to win (the SEC),”
men’s cross country head coach Chris Bucknam said. “Anytime you win an SEC
Championship, it’s a special event.”
Junior Solomon Haile, senior Eric
Fernandez and junior Kemoy Campbell earned First Team All-SEC honors by placing
second, third and fourth, respectively. Senior Layne Nixon earned Second Team
All-SEC honors by placing 12th, while freshman Cale Wallace finished 14th,
earning Second Team All-SEC and SEC Freshman of the Year honors.
“We got great efforts from our top five,”
Bucknam said.
Bucknam was particularly pleased with
Wallace’s performance, after he had a disappointing race at the Wisconsin
adidas Invitational in Madison, finishing 244th out of 316 runners.
“For Cale Wallace to have his best race of
the year, with the most on the line, bodes well for the future,” Bucknam said.
At the Regional meet, Arkansas must finish
in the top two team spots in order to guarantee a spot at the NCAA Championship
meet in Louisville. No. 5 Texas and SEC-foe No. 29 Texas A&M present
Arkansas their biggest challenge out of the 21 other teams.
“This Regional meet is the most important
meet of the year,” Bucknam said. “You go in wanting to win every race, but our
goal is to make it through the preliminary round and get to the NCAA
Championship. That’s the number one goal: finish in the top two.”
The women’s team is ranked No. 12 in the
country and finished second at the SEC Championship two weeks ago. Women’s
cross country head coach Lance Harter believes the two-week break will work to
the Razorbacks’ advantage.
“I think the kids are healthy,” Harter
said. “The last two weeks were critical in physiologically getting you ready
for the national championship.”
For the first time ever, the NCAA
Championship meet is only eight days after the Regional meet, causing him to
strategize and “play with the lineup a little bit,” Harter said.
Senior Semehar Tesfaye, sophomore Grace
Heymsfield and freshman Andrina Schlaepfer will be in the lineup for the
Regional meet, but beyond that is uncertain. Harter would like to rest junior
Keri Wood; however, sophomores Diane Robison, Shannon Klenke, Paige Johnston
and Kaitlin Flattmann will be in the mix for the final two spots.
Arkansas will be competing against 22
other teams, including No. 22 Texas and SMU, which received votes in the last
rankings.
“I think it’s a battle between us, Texas,
and SMU,” Harter said. “There’s also always that hidden fact that you just
never know who might pop up. Baylor has a tendency to rise up at the end of the
season and Texas A&M had a good squad last year.”
The women’s race begins at 11 a.m.
tomorrow morning, with the men’s race following at 12:15 p.m.
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