George Dominant In Junior Debut
BOSTON – The No. 6 Arkansas men’s cross country team raced to a third place team finish at Boston College’s Battle in Beantown on Friday afternoon at Franklin Park.
The Razorbacks were led by 2015 first team All-SEC performer Alex George who paced his team to a top-three finish as the No. 1 overall runner in the 8K competition.
A steady member of Arkansas’ top five since his freshman season, George opened up his junior campaign in dominant fashion, putting his speed on display and crossing the finish line 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Julian Oakley of Providence.
Head coach Chris Bucknam’s entire contingent delivered as all seven Hogs finished the race among the top 32 in a field of 122 entries.
George was followed by 2015 cross country All-American Frankline Tonui who also placed inside the top 10 as the eighth finisher of the day.
“Generally, I’m very pleased with our efforts today,” Bucknam said. “During these early season meets, our personnel changes according to individual needs not so much our team needs. During these first few weeks, we add and subtract runners based on individual development. Our ultimate goal is to have athletes on the same page by the SEC championship and beyond. That being said, we got some solid individual performances today. In particular, Alex George ran comfortably for the win in his first race since the NCAA West Preliminaries last May. For the first time in many years, Alex was able to curb his racing schedule in the summer and get some much needed rest. I think his performance at this meet is a sign of good things come, following that deserved break. Another athlete who also opened up for the first time since the NCAAs last June is Frankline Tonui who is well into the heavy training mode. It was good to see him out there racing again.”
Cameron Griffith (13th), Kyle Levermore (16th) and Aidan Swain (23rd) rounded out the Razorbacks’ top five, contributing to the team’s overall success with solid individual efforts.
Arkansas’ final two runners of the day — Kyle Hosting (24) and Carter Persyn (32) — closely followed their teammates, providing the cross country world a glimpse at the depth the Razorbacks are working with this season.
“We also got a solid effort from Cameron Griffith who’s just a sophomore” Bucknam said. “His development is well ahead of his training last year when he came in for his first year. He was within 36 seconds of Alex which was slightly off our initial goal but showed his potential. Our newcomer, Kyle Levermore, raced his first 8K since transferring from Oregon and he’s showing a lot of promise. A critical component of our team’s future success will be determined by the performances of Cameron, Kyle [Levermore], Kyle Hosting and Aidan Swain. I expect those athletes to make a huge push to be in our top five moving forward. Our next race is the Chile Pepper Festival and at that time we look forward to adding Jack Bruce, Austen Dalquist and possibly Andrew Ronoh to our line who will all make their season debut at that race. Christian Heymsfield, the SEC runner-up last season, is gaining in strength and we hope to return him to the lineup sometime in late October.”
Opting to rest next week, Arkansas will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 1 at home when they host the 28th Annual Chile Pepper Festival at Agri Park.
Top Five Team Results
1. Dartmouth – 40 (3-5-9-11-12)
2. Providence – 50 (2-6-7-17-18)
3. Arkansas – 61 (1-8-13-16-23)
4. Brown – 93 (4-10-25-26-28)
5. Maine – 183 (15-36-41-45-46)
Arkansas Results (Overall Finishes)
1. Alex George – 24:09
8. Frankline Tonui – 24:41
13. Cameron Griffith – 24:45
16. Kyle Levermore – 24:55
23. Aidan Swain – 25:07
24. Kyle Hosting – 25:07
32. Carter Persyn – 25:31
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) 10:00 a.m.
Fri, Nov. 11 – NCAA South Central Regional (Agri Park) 11:00 a.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.
