FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam loves the squeaky newness of his track and field team.
That love will be put to the test this weekend when the No. 5 Razorbacks compete in the SEC Indoor Championships, which begin today at the Tyson Track Center.
Arkansas, the six-time defending champion, will have to beat the nation’s top two teams in Florida and LSU to win another conference title.
A year ago, Arkansas held off Florida 123-119 with LSU third with 108.5 points. But the bulk of the Razorbacks’ scorers from that team are gone, as SEC champions Dorian Ulrey (mile, 3,000 meters), Alain Bailey (long jump) and Scott MacPherson(5,000) used up their indoor eligibility.
“A third of our team has not competed in an SEC meet,” Bucknam said. “I’m extremely excited about that.
There’s an energy level, anexcitement, that those kids bring to the table. I wish I had 45 percent that hadn’t been in it.”
Newcomers include Dey Tauch in the 800, Raymond Higgs in the high jump and Thomas Cattin-Masson in the 3,000. All have top-six marks among SEC competitors heading into the meet, but none of them has ever competed under the bigmeet glare.
Junior Tarik Batchelor has big-meet experience, but this SEC Indoors will be his first meet as the Razorbacks’ bell cow in the jumps. Batchelor had top-four finishes last year in the long jump and the triple jump, but he had the luxury of performing in Bailey’s shadow.
Now, he is the one shouldering expectations.
“There’s no question Tarik is a big figure,” Bucknam said. “He’s a big-time performer. We expect good things out of him, which I feel will happen.”
Batchelor has top-three marks in both jumps. Marek Niit and Duncan Phillips, both of whom redshirted in 2010, helped Arkansas win the SEC title in 2009 and both have top-five marks this year.
“These guys came to Arkansas to compete at these meets,” Bucknam said. “I told our team last week we’re in a great spot. It exceeds where I thought we’d be.”
Arkansas may not have the handful of favorites to win individual events like they did last season, but the Razorbacks have more scoring opportunities in more events this year. The Razorbacks have 17 entrants rankedamong the top five of their events, including top-seeded Eric Fernandez in the 5,000 and the distance medley relay team.
“It’s going to take our best efforts,” Bucknam said. “It’ll be something to hang our hats on if we can pull it off. The conference is deep, it’s flashy, it’s sexy. It’s everything you want to say it is. It’s unbelievable across the board.”
Bucknam said there should be some drastic point swingsduring the meet. Florida should put up a lot of points in events such as the 60-meter hurdles and the triple jump, making it look like the Gators are about to run away with the meet.
LSU is expected to answer with sprint points, and Arkansas hopes to do the same with its middle distance runners and longer sprinters.
“There’s going to be points that are going to look overwhelming after those events happen,” Bucknam said. “Then you look at the middle of the meet, for about an hour span, we’re going to look pretty tough. It’s going to be one of those classic meets where you can’t look at the scoreboard.
“When it’s all said and done, when it comes down to those final events, it could be a three-way meet separated by five points.”
Sports, Pages 13 on 02/25/2011