TAT: Nine Hogs to Run in Stanford Invite

This article originally appeared in the March 27, 2013 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.

The No. 2 Arkansas men’s track and field team travels to Palo Alto, Calif., this weekend to compete in the Stanford Invitational.

They are just one of seven top-10 teams sending athletes to compete in the race and one of 14 top-25 teams.

The Razorbacks are led by seniors Drew Butler and David Flynn and junior Solomon Haile, who will compete in two events each.

Butler will run in the 800- and 1,500-meter races, Flynn will run in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 5,000-meter race, and Haile will run in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races.

Last year at the Stanford Invitational, Butler set personal outdoor bests of 1 minute, 49.43 seconds in the 800 and 3:52.68 in the 1,500. Haile’s personal bests also came at the Stanford Invitational. He ran a 14:09.81 in the 5,000 last year and a 28:43.35 in the 10,000 in 2010.

Six other Arkansas athletes will also make the trip.

Senior Anthony Lieghio, sophomore Patrick Rono and freshman Cale Wallace will run alongside Butler in the 1,500.

Rono is coming off of a seventh-place finish in the 800 at the Indoor Championships March 9, while Lieghio is coming off of a 12th-place finish in the 1,500 at the Texas State Elite last weekend.

Along with Flynn and Haile, juniors Kemoy Campbell, Cameron Efurd and Stanley Kebenei will also run in the 5,000.

Campbell splashed onto the scene at the Indoor Championships in Fayetteville when he finished second in the 3,000-meter race to clinch the championship for Arkansas. This will be his first race of the outdoor season.

This will also be Kebenei’s first race since he finished seventh in the 5,000 at the Indoor Championships.

Arkansas will be one of six Southeastern Conference teams competing in Palo Alto. The others are No. 3 Florida, No. 5 Auburn, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.

The meet begins Friday and concludes Saturday.