Robert Black

Fifth Ranked Razorbacks Host Chile Pepper Festival

Chile Pepper Notes

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Razorbacks men’s cross country team will continue their season with the 28th Annual Chile Pepper Festival on Saturday, October 1.

The Razorbacks recently improved their rank in the latest USTFCCCA polls, tied at No. 5 in the country with Colorado and remain the top team in the South Central region.

Arkansas returns to action following its solid showing at Boston College’s Battle in Beantown where the team rallied to finish third overall.

Perennial Southeastern Conference standout Alex George was Arkansas’ top finisher in the event, capturing the first cross country individual meet title of his career. He completed the 8K in 24 minutes and 9 seconds.

George’s 2016 8K time currently reigns supreme as the best performance in the league this season.

Razorback juniors Jack Bruce and Austen Dalquist will open their season on Saturday morning, looking to return to their positions inside Arkansas’ top five.
Bruce and Dalquist will be joined by George as well as Cameron Griffith, Kyle Levermore, Aidan Swain and Frankline Tonui — all of whom finished in the top 25 in Boston.

“We’re excited about putting our team together for the first time this year,” head coach Chris Bucknam said. “This is the kickoff to the real season for us and it allows us to give everybody a look at what our potential might be. We’re just excited to get the team together and start really ramping it up.”

Scheduled to begin at 9:45 a.m. CT, Arkansas will line up against 64 teams, the most in the meet’s history, including the top distance programs from the north: Boston College and Villanova. Additionally, the Razorbacks will see more regional competition from Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, North Texas, Texas Christian, University of Arkansas at Little Rock and University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

2016 Cross Country Schedule
Thurs, Sept. 1 – Cowboy Duals (Stillwater, Okla.) | 4th of 6
Fri, Sept. 16 – Battle in Beantown (Boston, Mass.) | 3rd of 15
Sat, Oct. 1 – Chile Pepper Festival (Agri Park) 9:45 a.m.
Sat, Oct. 15 – Pre-Nationals (Terre Haute, Ind.) 10:35 a.m.
Fri, Oct. 28 – SEC Championship (Agri Park) 11:00 a.m.
Fri, Nov. 11 – NCAA South Central Regional (Agri Park) 12:00 p.m.
Sat, Nov. 19 – NCAA Championship (Terre Haute, Ind.) 11:00 a.m.

Bold denotes a home event.

For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.