Razorbacks Open Indoor Season with Arkansas Invitational/Live Results
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The defending national champion Razorback track and field team will kick off the indoor season on Jan. 13 when the Hogs host the Arkansas Invitational. Events will be held at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The shot put is the first field event of the day and is slated to begin at noon. The 3,000 meters will signify the start of the running events at 3 p.m. and the finals will start at 5:25 p.m. with the distance medley relay.
Even though Arkansas is not fielding its full squad, the Razorbacks are still hoping to gain NCAA automatic or provisional qualifying times against quality opponents. A total of 12 teams are making the trip to Fayetteville including, Harding, Jackson State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri Southern, Neosho County CC, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Baptist, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, TCU, and Texas A&M.
“This meet will be a good opportunity to see where we are after break and what kind of shape the guys are in," Arkansas head coach John McDonnell said. "I hate for them to be idle for as long as they were over the break, so I’ll be interested to see how they do.
“It’s not a huge meet, but we have good teams coming in," McDonnell said. "Those teams will give us a good knowledge of how good we’re going to be."
Several of UA’s top-ranked recruiting class will be making their indoor debuts as Razorbacks. Freshman Nkosinza Balumbu was the nation’s top prep triple jumper and he will be looking to make an immediate impact in the event. Sophomores Chessly Johnson and Mychael Stewart will also join him in the event.
In other field event action junior Greg Martin and sophomore Brent Rosson will compete in the high jump, while redshirt freshman Daniel Quinn is entered in the long jump. Senior Jimmy Duke is preparing for the heptathlon by competing in the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault, shot put and long jump.
Freshman Chris Barnicle will have his chance to run in his signature event on Friday night. The Newton, Mass., native was the country’s top-ranked 3,000-meter runner coming out of high school with a time of 8:17.61. A crew of additional Razorbacks will also take to the track for the 3K including, senior Josphat Boit, junior Peter Kosgei and sophomores Shawn Forrest and Jonathan Norris.
Freshmen Scott MacPherson and Daniel LaCava, a pair of Texas products, will also have an opportunity to shine after training hard during the cross country season. MacPherson will run in the mile with seniors Jose Campos and Marc Rodrigues.
LaCava will handle the second leg of the DMR, while junior Brian Roe will take the first. Freshman Jeremy Dodson, a standout sprinter from Denver, Colo., will run the 400-meter leg and senior Seth Summerside will serve as the anchor.
Dodson will also run on UA’s 4×400-meter relay team with freshman Cedric Zellner and seniors Brad Dittoe and David Wittenmyer. The current Hogs will have tough competition as a group of talented former Razorbacks are entered in the event, including Wallace Spearmon, Tyson Gay, Omar Brown and Maurice Bridges.
Earlier in the day Dittoe and Wittenmyer will run in the 800 meters, while Zellner will compete in the 60 and 200-meter dashes.
The Hogs will compete at home again next weekend when they host the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 20-21. The Boston Indoor Games will follow on Jan. 27-28.
