Track Hogs Set for NCAA Championships

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Razorback track and field will compete in the 2008 NCAA Championships, Wednesday-Saturday, June 11-14, at Drake Stadium.

Wednesday’s events will begin at 10 a.m., Thursday at 10:45 a.m., Friday at 1 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m. The NCAA Championships will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports, Friday, June 13th, 7-10 p.m. CST and on CBS, Saturday, June 14th, 3-5 p.m. CST. A feature about head coach John McDonnell and Arkansas track and field will air during CBS’s Saturday broadcast of events.

The 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships will be the final meet for McDonnell as he has decided to retire following the 2008 season. McDonnell’s numbers are staggering: 42 NCAA titles, five NCAA triple crowns, 84 conference titles, 21 conference triple crowns and 185 athletes earning 652 All-America awards.

Arkansas just might have the entries needed to win its 43rd NCAA title with 12 student-athletes competing in nine events. The Razorbacks’ NCAA wins are broken down by the following: 11 cross country, 19 indoor and 12 outdoor. The Razorbacks have won 12 NCAA Outdoor crowns. Arkansas captured a school-record eight-consecutive outdoor team titles from 1992-99.

Nkosinza Balumbu (triple jump), Peter Kosgei (3,000M Steeplechase), J-Mee Samuels (100M, 4x100M), Mychael Stewart (4x100M), James Strang (10,000M) and Cedric Zellner (4x100M) are competing at the NCAAs for the second-straight season.

Sophomore Alain Bailey (long jump, 4x100M), freshman Luke Laird (javelin), junior Scott MacPherson (3,000M Steeplechase), junior Alex McClary (800M) and freshman Spencer McCorkel (pole vault) will be making their NCAA Outdoor Championship debuts this weekend. Bailey missed the event in 2007 after a knee injury at the SEC Championships cut his season short. MacPherson is an NCAA cross country and indoor championships qualifier.

The Cardinal and White collected eight automatic-qualifying finishes at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships in addition to two automatic-qualifying times in the 10,000 meters. McCorkel received the lone at-large bid awarded to Arkansas. He finished 11th at the regional but his season-best clearance of 17-2.75 was good enough for a spot in the meet.

For complete details of the NCAA Championships, visit www.godrakebulldogs.com. A complete meet recap and results will be available daily on www.hogwired.com.

Download: 6.5.08 NCAAs.pdf