Razorback Cross Country Goes for 17th NCAA Regional Title

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. The No. 5 Razorbacks will travel to Waco, Texas for the 2006 NCAA South

Central Regional Championships, Sat, Nov. 11. The men’s race is set to go off at 11:15 a.m. The top two teams from the event will earn an automatic trip to the NCAA Championships, Mon. Nov. 20, in Terre Haute, Ind.

The Razorbacks have won 16-consecutive NCAA South Central titles since 1990 and 27 of 28 South Central Championships awarded since 1978 (The loss came in 1989). Arkansas harriers have won 18 individual NCAA South Central Regional titles. The last came in 2004 from Josphat Boit who clocked a time of 29:43 to win the event.

“I look at the regional meet like heats of the 1,500 meters,” head coach John McDonnell said, “the top three make it to the finals. We need to be in the top two. The NCAA Championship is what we are after.”

With just seven entries allowed per school, Kenny Cormier, Colin Costello, Shawn Forrest, Tyler Hill, Peter Kosgei, Scott MacPherson and Seth Summerside are slated to compete.

“We are pretty healthy right now,” McDonnell said. “We are running six of our top seven (in Waco). We have a pretty good team. We have to get out and get our heads into it.”

Peter Kosgei is the Razorbacks’ top returner from the 2005 NCAA South Central Regional Championships. Kosgei earned runner-up honors with a time of 30:30.25. In 2005, Arkansas finished two of its runners in the top five, three in the top 12, four in the top 21 and five in the top 33.

“Peter (Kosgei) and I have already talked,” McDonnell said. “He’s going to stay back a bit. It’s really hard to run good 10K races back to back. If anyone can do it, he’s the one.”

No. 5 Arkansas leads the South Central Region in the USTFCCCA national rankings. The Hogs are also seated at the top of the South Central Regional rankings. The Texas Longhorns are No. 21 in the nation and No. 2 in the region. Lamar, of the Southland Conference, is ranked third in the region.

“Texas has a pretty good team,” McDonnell said. “They finished second at the Big 12 Championships. Lamar also has a pretty good team and they may knock Texas out. Lamar has three really outstanding runners.”

At the event in 2005, the second-ranked Razorbacks remained undefeated for the season and earned an automatic trip to the National Championships as they claimed their 16th-consecutive NCAA South Central Regional title. Arkansas tallied 33 points with all seven of its runners finishing in the top 15 of the 10K race. Tenth-ranked Texas came in second place with 46 points, while Texas A&M was third with 128 points.

Complete details and results of the NCAA South Central Regional Championships can be found at www.baylorbears.com.