No. 3 Men's @RazorbackTF Set To Open 2015 Indoor Season

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The reigning SEC Indoor Track Champions and No. 3 Arkansas men’s track and field program will open the 2015 indoor season by hosting the Arkansas Invitational on Friday at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The meet starts at 2 p.m. with the men’s shot put/women’s high jump and will end after the 4×400-meter relays at 7:10 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

ARKANSAS INVITATIONAL

DATE

Friday, Jan. 9, 2015

TIME

1st Event Starts at 2 p.m. | ‘Prime Time’ is 6-8 p.m.

VENUE

Randal Tyson Track Center (5,000+) | Fayetteville, Ark.

MEET FIELD

Arkansas, Arkansas Baptist, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State, Tulsa

MEET INFO

Schedule of Events | Heat Sheets (M)

LIVE RESULTS

FlashResults.com

TICKETS

ArkansasRazorbacks.com

SOCIAL

Twitter  |  Facebook  |  #TrackCapitalOfTheWorld

UP NEXT
After the Arkansas Invitational, the Razorbacks will then welcome Texas to the Randal Tyson Track Center for the Arkansas-Texas Dual (Jan. 16), marking the sixth dual for the two teams.

USTFCCCA PRESEASON RANKINGS
For the fourth season in a row, the Arkansas men’s track and field program will begin the season ranked in the preseason top 3, as the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) ranked the Razorbacks No. 3 in its initial computer rankings that were released on Tuesday, Jan. 6.

Three SEC teams are ranked among the nation’s top-four programs on the men’s side, while six SEC teams are ranked in the top-13 nationally. Florida is the preseason No. 1 men’s team, the Razorbacks check in at the No. 3 position Arkansas is No. 3 and Texas A&M is No. 4. LSU checks in at No. 10, while Georgia is No. 11 and Alabama is No. 13. The Florida men won three consecutive NCAA Indoor Championships from 2010-2012 and Arkansas won the indoor national crown in 2013.

BY INVITE ONLY
The USA Track & Field (USATF) and the US Olympic Committee (USOC) invited Arkansas men’s track and field assistant coach Travis Geopfert and junior Jarrion Lawson to participate in a Jumps Initiative Camp at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. In early December 2014.

The USATF Jumps Initiative was designed to help top collegiate horizontal jumps athletes and coaches by identifying physical, biomechanical, and technical components that are related to performance outcomes and injury prevention.

The USATF and the USOC hope that the information received from this camp will help with training design for the 2015 season, plus introduce student-athletes to the range of USATF and USOC sport science resources that will be available to them as a post-collegian.

Lawson’s stellar 2014 indoor/outdoor track season helped him get the invite. He finished 2nd at the Outdoor USA National Championships and won the 2014 NCAA Indoor title after dominating the field with a world-leading 27-6.5 jump, a huge final leap that took him a foot further than his competitors. With his mark, Lawson ranks No. 4 all-time in NCAA history and No. 7 in all-time U.S. history. Lawson’s jump just missed the NCAA Championship meet record of 8.48 set by the legendary Carl Lewis in 1981.

SOLID RECRUITING
Arkansas, the 2013 national champion, is looking to reclaim its spot atop the Division I indoor track & field mountain. The Razorback recruiting class for this season was ranked seventh in the country by Track & Field News.

This is the sixth recruiting class for Bucknam and his staff. The last three signing Arkansas track and field signing classes have ranked inside the top 10 in the nation.

The initial wave of future Razorbacks includes Stephen Mugeche (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs HS), Laquan Nairn (Nassau, Bahamas/St. Johns College HS), Carlton Orange Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Memphis University HS), Brendon Rivera (Edinburg, Texas/Robert Vela HS), Frankline Tonui (Nakuru, Kenya/Iowa Central Community College) and Joshua Washington Jr. (Woodbridge, Va./Richard Bland College).

A LOOK BACK AT THE 2014 INDOOR SEASON
Head coach Chris Bucknam and his team took the SEC Championship last season, marking the third-consecutive indoor title for the program, and finished second at the 2014 NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M. The Razorbacks scored 54 points over the two-day national meet, just eight points behind Oregon and 18 points ahead of third-place Florida.

The Razorbacks earned 19 All-American honors last season, highlighted by a pair of national champions in Jarrion Lawson (long jump) and 2014 SEC Freshman Runner of the Year Omar McLeod (60-meter hurdles). Lawson’s NCAA-leading jump of 27-6.5 took down his previous personal record of 26-2.75 (set at the 2014 Tyson Invitational). With his mark, Lawson ranks No. 4 all-time in NCAA history and No. 7 in all-time U.S. history. Lawson’s jump just missed the NCAA Championship meet record of 8.48 set by the legendary Carl Lewis in 1981. He currently ranks No. 2 all-time in Arkansas history. McLeod recorded a top-finishing time of 7.58 in the 60-meter hurdles for the title in his first-ever NCAA Championship. McLeod’s time followed an NCAA-leading performance in the prelims (a school-best 7.57).

At the SEC Indoor Championships, the Razorbacks scored 121 points, earning three individual titles (high jump – Anthony May; long jump – Raymond Higgs; 5000m – Solomon Haile). Arkansas also had five events earn a silver medal (60m hurdles, pole vault, long jump, triple jump and 5000m).
For the latest information on Arkansas men’s track and field, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.

 

Fayetteville, the “Track Capital of the World”, will be at the center of the track and field universe on the weekend of March 13-14 as the Razorbacks will host the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center, the home of the “Fastest Indoor Track in the World”. Since the facility’s opening in 2000, Arkansas and the Randal Tyson Track Center have hosted the event 11 times, including nine straight seasons and 11 of the last 13 championships.

A two-day, all-session ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships is $40 for reserved seating and $30 for general admission adult ticket.

Season tickets and NCAA all-session passes are available online at HERE, by contacting the Razorback Athletics Ticket Center via phone at (800) 982-HOGS or in person at the Razorback Athletics Ticket Center, located just east of Baum Stadium at 1295 S. Razorback Rd. in Fayetteville.