TAMU next for No. 10 women's track

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 10 Arkansas Razorback women’s track and field will continue the 2010 indoor season with the Texas A&M Big 12 – SEC – PAC-10 Challenge, Fri.-Sat., January 29-30, at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.

No. 16 Baylor, No. 9 Florida, No. 2 Oregon, No. 11 South Carolina, Stanford, No. 15 Texas, No. 1 Texas A&M and Washington State will be competing with the Hogs at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, combined events begin at 5:55 p.m. and running events begin at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday, combined events begin at 11 a.m., field events at 12 p.m. and running events at 12:30 p.m. Live results can be found at ArkansasRazorbacks.com. A complete meet recap will available at ArkansasRazorbacks.com shortly after the final event.

Arkansas student-athletes hold the leading marks in the NCAA in the 4×400-meter (3:34.80) and distance medley (11:23.61) relays. Arkansas student-athletes also hold the leading marks in the SEC in the 400 meters (Shelise Williams), the 4×400-meter relay, the distance medley relay, the pole vault (Tina Sutej) and the pentathlon (Leah Orley).

Senior Katie Stripling and Sutej have already punched their tickets to the NCAA Indoor Championships in March in Fayetteville. Both cleared the auto pole vault height of 13-11.25 at the 2010 opener and hold season bests of 14-1.25. Williams in the 400 meters and freshman Stephanie Brown in the 800 meters both dipped below the NCAA provisional qualifier. The Razorbacks also picked up provisional qualifiers in the 4×400-meter and distance medley relays at the Razorback and Virginia Tech Invitationals.

Brown is the SEC Freshman of the Week for her performance at the Razorback invitational. Her 800-meter race-winning time of 2:05.08 is her second personal best in as many weeks and is an improved NCAA provisional qualifier. She was just .08 off the NCAA auto time. Her winning time ranks No. 3 in the NCAA and No. 3 in the SEC. She has the top time by a freshman in 2010.

Sutej finished second overall and first among collegians in the pole vault at the Razorback Invitational. She is this week’s SEC Field Athlete of the Week. Her clearance of 14-2 is a personal best, ranks No. 2 in the NCAA, leads the SEC and betters her Slovenian National record. She now holds the No. 3 jump in Arkansas school history. She has re-set the Slovenian National record, also her personal best, in all three meets this season.

The Razorbacks are seated at No. 10 and are one of six SEC schools in the current USTFCCCA poll. The LSU Tigers are No. 4, the Tennessee Lady Vols are No. 8, the Florida Gators rank ninth, the South Carolina Gamecocks are 11th and Auburn is No. 19.

Download: 1.29-.30.10 TAMU.pdf