Women's cross picked second in the SEC

FAYETTEVILLE – The Southeastern Conference women’s cross country poll was announced on Wednesday and the Arkansas Razorbacks are picked to finish second in the league.

Florida received all eleven first-place votes and tallied 11 total points for the top spot. Arkansas collected 24 points for second place, followed by Georgia with 35 points. There was a three-way tie for fourth with Alabama, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. All three schools received 52 points each. At the 2009 SEC Championships, Florida won the title, Tennessee was second and Arkansas finished third.

"We’re very excited for this season," head coach Lance Harter said. "The SEC is one of the most competitive conferences across the board and cross country is no different. We have a diverse group of experience and talent this season. We are looking forward to seeing how our younger runners react to SEC and NCAA competition. The potential for this team is huge."

Harter returns six letterwinners for the 2010 season, including All-SEC and all-region performers senior Miranda Walker and junior Jillian Rosen and indoor track All-Americans juniors Kristen Gillespie and Samantha Learch. The Hogs also welcome five true freshmen and two redshirt freshmen to the mix in 2010.

During the 2010 season, the Razorbacks will be in the hunt for their 14th SEC team title, their 16th NCAA Regional team title and their 24th trip to the NCAA Championships (since 1982).

Harter and the 2010 Razorbacks will open the season Sept. 3 with a home meet at Agri Park. The women’s race will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18 holds a meet at UC-Riverside and, on Friday, Oct. 1, a meet at Notre Dame. Arkansas will host its second home meet of the season with the Chile Pepper Festival on Saturday, Oct. 16.

The championships portion of the season will start Monday, Nov. 1 with the SEC Championships, in Columbia, S.C., on the campus of the University of South Carolina. The NCAA South Central Regional Championships will be held Saturday, Nov. 13, in Waco Texas, at Baylor University. The season will wrap with the NCAA Championships, Monday, Nov. 22, in Terre Haute, Ind., on the campus of Indiana State University.

Download: PreseasonPoll10.pdf