FAYETTEVILLE - For the first time in Chris Bucknam’s 30 years as a track and field coach at Northern Iowa and Arkansas, he isn’t taking his team to the Penn Relays or the Drake Relays.
Both meets are being held this weekend - Penn in Philadelphia and Drake in Des Moines, Iowa - but Bucknam will be at home with third-ranked Razorbacks, who are hosting the Arkansas Invitational today at John McDonnell Field.
“It was a very tough call because of the tradition involved,” Bucknam, in his fifth year at Arkansas, said of deciding not to compete at Penn or Drake. “But having Florida and Ohio State come here made it easier.”
The No. 1 Gators and No. 23 Buckeyes both made the long trip to Fayetteville for today’s meet. The men’s field also includes No. 22 Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa.
“When you get a Big Ten team like Ohio State coming down here, that’s exciting,” Bucknam said. “They’re going to be a formidable opponent, and Florida is kind of like our arch-rival now. We seem to be banging heads with those guys at the SEC meet all the time and at nationals.”
Arkansas banged heads with No. 4 Oregon in a dual meet in Eugene, Ore., last Saturday and beat the Ducks 86-77 before an announced crowd of 7,344 at Hayward Field.
The meet went down to the final event, where Arkansas’ Akheem Gauntlett held off Oregon’s Mike Berry on the anchor leg to win the 1,600-meter relay.
Gauntlett also won the200. Other victories for the Razorbacks included Tarik Batchelor in the long and triple jumps, Andrew Irwin in the pole vault, Caleb Cross in the 400 hurdles, Stanley Kebenei in the steeplechase, Noah Kittelson in the high jump, Devin Randall in the shot put and the 400 relay.
“We planned that trip to Oregon to get our guys in a real tough, competitive environment with a very good crowd,” Bucknam said. “When you go to a meet like that, you’ve got to find a way to win. It was an accountability meet for us, and that’s basically what the SEC meet is and what the NCAA meet is for us.
“We’ve got to account for everything we do. We did that and won the meet, so my hat’s off to our guys for getting it done, and my hat’s off to Oregon for inviting us to come out there and compete against them.”
Arkansas assistant Doug Case, who coaches the sprinters, hurdlers and pole vaulters, said today’s meet will help prepare the Razorbacks better for the SEC and NCAA Championships than the Penn or Drake Relays.
“We felt like we could have a real good track meet with a few teams in here and get some things done you don’t normally get done at a relay meet,” Case said.
“At the NCAA meet, you run the 4-by-100 and 4-by-400. If you go to the Penn Relays and you run the sprint medley relay, and the DMR [distance medley relay] and4-by-200, realistically those do nothing to your season.
“We just really wanted to have a meet where we could get something accomplished in a shorter time frame.”
Bucknam said it’s better for the Razorbacks to be at home after traveling to Oregon last week, and that today’s meet also offers more opportunities for NCAA qualifying marks.
“It feels kind of weird not being at Penn or Drake,” Bucknam said.
“But for the situation that we’re in, and what we have to do, I feel good about the decision and what we’ve got set up here at home.” Information for this article was contributed by Matt Jones of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Arkansas Invitational
WHEN Today. Field events start at 11 a.m. with the hammer throw. Running and many field events start at 4 p.m.
WHERE John McDonnell Field, Fayetteville WHO Men’s field includes No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 22 Oklahoma, No. 23 Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Tulsa.
Women’s field includes No. 5 Arkansas, No. 6 Florida, No. 12 Central Florida, No. 22 Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa.
ADMISSION $5. Free for UA students with a valid ID and those 17 and younger.
Sports, Pages 25 on 04/27/2013