NCAA entries list released

FAYETTEVILLE – The NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Committee has released the accepted entries list for the 2011 NCAA Championships to be held March 11-12 at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in College Station, Texas. The University of Arkansas men’s track and field team collected 12 national entries spread among nine student-athletes and two relays.

Nine of the Razorbacks’ 12 participants came by an automatic-qualifying mark while the team picked up three at-large entries. A new team ranking from the USTFCCCA will be released based solely on Monday’s entries list.

Individually, Arkansas will be represented by LaShawn Butler and Marek Niit in the 200 meters, Neil Braddy and Ben Skidmore in the 400 meters, Dey Tuach in the 800 meters, Duncan Phillips in the mile, Tarik Batchelor in the long jump and triple jump, Raymond Higgs in the long jump and Kevin Lazas in the heptathlon. Tuach, Higgs and Lazas were the Razorbacks’ at-large additions.

Arkansas enters the national championship meet with the top-ranked 4×400-meter relay team. The foursome of Braddy, Niit, Skidmore and Chris Bilbrew combined for a world- and NCAA-leading time of 3:05.13 at the SEC Championships. The Razorbacks will also run their distance-medley relay which currently owns the No. 6 time in the nation.

At the SEC Championships, the Razorbacks totaled 136.5 points for a runner-up finish. The team was aided by event wins from Batchelor in the long jump and the 4×400-meter relay. Arkansas also picked up second-place performances from Butler in the 200 meters, Phillips in the mile, Eric Fernandez in the 5,000 meters and Lazas in the heptathlon.

The national meet will be streamed live by ESPN3.com beginning Friday at 3:55 p.m. (CT) and Saturday at 5 p.m. Additional video streams will be available via NCAA.com and AggieAthletics.com beginning Friday at 10 a.m. and Saturday at noon. The NCAA Championships will be aired on tape delay on Wednesday, March 16 at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

Automatic QualifiersIndividualsTarik Batchelor – long jump (No. 4 – 26-5.75), triple jump (No. 4 – 54-2.5)Neil Braddy – 400 meters (No. 5 – 46.03)LaShawn Butler – 200 meters (No. 9 – 20.79)Marek Niit – 200 meters (No. 4 – 20.70)Duncan Phillips – mile (No. 16 – 3:58.82)Ben Skidmore – 400 meters (No. 6 – 46.04)

Relays4×400-meter relay (No. 1 – 3:05.13)Distance-medley relay (No. 6 – 9:30.85)

At-LargeRaymond Higgs – long jump (No. 16 – 25-6)Kevin Lazas – heptathlon (No. 14 – 5,674 pts.)Dey Tuach – 800 meters (No. 16 – 1:48.08)

Download: NCAA men entries_03.07.pdf