FAYETTEVILLE — There are times when the opposition makes victory all but impossible.
Both Arkansas track and field teams found that out at the SEC Indoor Championships on Sunday at the Tyson Track Center. The fifthranked men scored 136.50 points but still fell to No. 1 Florida, which scored 148.
Arkansas’ runner-up score is the highest non-winning total in SEC history.
The No. 4 women Razorbacks finished second for the second consecutive year, losing 135-118 to No. 2 LSU. Arkansas had the individual highlight of the day when junior Tina Sutej set the national collegiate women’s indoor record with a clearance of 14 feet, 10 3/4 inches.
“For me, it’s an excellent day, an amazing day,” said Sutej, of Slovenia, who had threatened the record in every meet this year. “Now that I have the record, I’m happy. I was just thinking about getting first place and 10 points for the team. I was trying not to make myself more nervous than I already was.”
Arkansas’ men entered Sunday with numerous qualifiers scattered through 10 of the 12 final events. The Razorbacks’ hope was that their depth would win the day against Florida’s top-tier talent, but the Gators didn’t play along.
The Gators won the triple jump, 60-meter dash, 60 hurdles, the mile run and the 200. Florida went 1-2-3 in the triple jump, scoring 24 points, as the Gators raced quickly to a 121-71 lead after six events.
“Florida has star power, no question about that,” Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam said. “We were scrapping and clawing. Florida is the No. 1 team in the country, and they proved it. We may be the No. 2 team in the country.
“We came up a little bit short, I don’t think we lost the meet.”
Arkansas got standout performances from several athletes: LaShawn Butler finished second in the 200 in 20.79 seconds, Ben Skidmore and Neil Braddy were fourth and fifth in the 400 and the 1,600-relay team won the day’s final event in 3 minutes, 5.13 seconds.
All had automatic qualifying marks for the NCAA meet in two weeks at Texas A&M.
“We’re a great team, and we’re going to get better,” Bucknam said. “We wentto another level. We’ve got great momentum going in [to nationals].”
Arkansas’ 1,600 relay victory was the only event title of the day, but the Razorbacks picked up four or more points in the 10 events they were entered. The Razorbacks picked up 21 in the 5,000, 12 in the mile and 11 in the 200 and 400.
“I told you we were deep,” Bucknam said. “We’re building it from the bottom up. Our time will come again.”
The women Razorbacks had more individual winners. Sutej won the pole vault for the second consecutive year, and senior Shelise Williams defended her 400 title. Williams also helped the 1,600-meter relay team win its second consecutive conference title.
“I’m happy, excited, bummed out - all in one,” Williams said. “Second place in the toughest conference, you can’t go wrong with that.”
Arkansas’ individual titles couldn’t offset LSU’s across the-board power. The Lady Tigers scored 14 or more points in four events and had at least eight points in four others.
“After a while, you really get sick and tired of finishing second,” Arkansas women’s Coach Lance Harter said. “The kids fought all the way through. When we preforecast the meet, we figured we could get to 110 points.
“We came out eight points ahead. I thought if we got 120, we’d be untouchable.”
Sports, Pages 13 on 02/28/2011