FAYETTEVILLE - The Arkansas track and field teams will take the tedious, but necessary, step of competing in the NCAA West Regional for the next three days in Austin, Texas.
The No. 4 Arkansas men, aiming to follow up on their NCAA indoor and SEC outdoor championships, added a degree of difficulty to the preliminary meet by having to bus to Myers Stadium after their flight was canceled Tuesday.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” Coach Chris Bucknam said. “Even though we had to make a whole major change in our travel, we’ve got each other to lean on and get through the meet. … I think we’re in a better place than we were before the SEC meet.”
The top 12 times and marks from the East and West Regionals qualify for the NCAA Championships that will be held June 5-8 in Eugene, Ore.
The Razorbacks have 25 individual qualifiers and a pair of relay teams competing on the men’s side, with decathletes Kevin Lazas and Nathanael Franks already qualified for nationals.
Arkansas has 10 entrants ranked among the top five in qualifying times and marks, led by No. 2 Andrew Irwin in the pole vault (18-6 1/2), No. 3 Tarik Batchelor in the long jump (25-11), No. 3 Stanley Kebenei in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (8:40.23) and the No. 3 400-meter relay team (39.34) of Caleb Cross, Jarrion Lawson, Akheem Gauntlett and Marek Niit.
The eighth-ranked Arkansas women, who finished second to Texas A&M at the SEC meet, are sending 21 individual entrants and a 1,600-meter relay team.
“It’s now just a matter of survival,” said Lance Harter, Arkansas’ women’s coach. “We’re excited about the size of the squad we have. It’s now a matter of trying to keep everybody in a qualifying position to advance.”
The Arkansas women’s top entrants are No. 2 Makeba Alcide in the high jump (6-2),No. 3 Regina George in the 400 meters (51.74), No. 4 Sparkle McKnight in the 400-meter hurdles (55.71) and the No. 4 1,600-meter relay squad (3:28.42) of Chrishuna Williams, McKnight, Gwendolyn Flowers and George.
Alcide is already qualified for the NCAA championships in the heptathlon, which, like the decathlon, will not be held in Austin.
The Razorbacks women’s team fell two spots in the national coaches’ association poll this week despite not competing. Kansas is No. 1, followed by Texas A&M, NCAA indoor champion Oregon, LSU and Florida.
Irwin, the two-time NCAA indoor champion, will be looking to exorcise some ghosts from Austin after he failed to advance from the preliminary meet last year. Irwin, the No. 2 vaulter in the world last spring, was well over the qualifying height on all three of his jumps but hit the bar with his left knee on his way down.
The regional meets have never been favored by Arkansas’ coaches, who are concerned about wear and tear on the athletes and the added expenses from another round of competition.
“A lot of the coaches like us that are disgruntled about it, we don’t express that to our guys,” Bucknam said. “They just know we have to go get it done. … They are not tied up into the politics of it. It’s just go qualify.”
Arkansas is scheduled to host an NCAA regional next year.
“I think there’s an ongoing debate about whether realistically is this something we want to continue or not,” Harter said. “But I think for the NCAA’s aspect … it’s a win-win situation.
“For some reason our indoor qualifying procedure works really well. We have a descending order list. You either make it or you don’t, and you advance to the national championships. For some reason now we add another wrinkle to the qualifying procedure because obviously everybody wants to make it to Eugene and the NCAA finals.”
The Razorbacks departed from unseasonably cool and wet conditions in Fayetteville to what could be a mid-summer feel in central Texas.
“It’s going to be track hell,” Bucknam said. “Track hell in terms of the heat and the length of the meet.”
Track and field
NCAA West Regional WHEN Today through Saturday WHERE Myers Stadium, Austin, Texas NOTEWORTHY The top 12 times/marks and the 12 best relay teams at the East and West regional meets advance to the NCAA Championships on June 5-8 in Eugene, Ore.
Sports, Pages 25 on 05/23/2013