FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' men's and women's track and field teams open the indoor season without some NCAA champions and Olympians, but with high expectations.
Both teams are competing today at the Arkansas Invitational at the Randal Tyson Indoor Center. Field events begin at 1 p.m. and running events at 3 p.m.
The Arkansas men have lost long jumper and sprinter Jarrion Lawson, a U.S. Olympian and the Bowerman Award winner as the nation's top track and field athlete. Lawson won four national titles last year and helped the Razorbacks sweep SEC indoor and outdoor championships and take second at both NCAA meets.
The Arkansas women's team -- which won the NCAA outdoor championship, was second indoors and won SEC indoor and outdoor titles -- is moving on without distance runner Dominique Scott and sprinter Taylor Ellis-Watson.
Scott won the 5,000 and 10,000 meters outdoors and competed at the Olympics for South Africa. Ellis-Watson, an 11-time All-American, won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the U.S. 1,600 relay team.
Despite the loss of so much star power, the women's team is ranked No. 2 nationally in the coaches' preseason poll behind Oregon, and the men's team is ranked No. 4 behind Florida, Oregon and LSU.
"We've created our own monster," Arkansas women's Coach Lance Harter said. "If we don't win it's, 'What did you do wrong?' "
Harter has guided the Razorbacks to 29 top-10 national finishes in cross country and indoor and outdoor track in 27 years, with two NCAA championships, including the 2015 indoor title to go along with last year's outdoor title.
"Will we be as good a team as last year?" Harter said. "I think that would be a real challenge.
"But I think we have the potential to keep the stakes high and make sure that if there are any challengers in the SEC, they're going to have to be on their A game to get us."
Men's Coach Chris Bucknam, in nine years at Arkansas since replacing John McDonnell, has led the Razorbacks to 18 top-10 national finishes, including the 2013 NCAA indoor championship.
"It's business as usual at Arkansas, that's how we look at it," Bucknam said of the high national ranking. "For Lance and myself, there's not a lot room for rebuilding. We're reloading.
"Everybody expects Arkansas -- and rightfully so -- to have great performances all the time. We're used to being in this position. I don't mean to sound arrogant at all, but I do think we have a really good team."
Lexi Weeks, a sophomore from Cabot who won NCAA indoor and outdoor pole vault titles and competed for the U.S. at the Olympics, is among nine returning All-Americans for the women's team.
"I think any time you have an Olympian on your team, that's a go-to person," Harter said. "It just elevates the whole team to know that you have somebody who is going to take care of business."
Tori Weeks -- Lexi's twin sister -- also is an All-American vaulter. Sophomore Desiree Freier, an All-American vaulter in 2015, is back after redshirting last year because of a broken ankle.
Payton Stumbaugh, a junior from Springdale who was an All-American in the pentathlon and 60 hurdles last year, likely will redshirt indoors because of a stress reaction -- a precursor to a stress fracture in which the bone structure is weakened -- in her leg, Harter said.
Other returning All-Americans are Taliyah Brooks and Leigha Brown in the multi-events, sprinters Daina Harper and Brianna Swinton, and distance runners Therese Haiss and Nikki Hiltz.
The men's team returns seven All-Americans, led by senior triple jumper Clive Pullen, last year's NCAA indoor champion who competed in the Olympics for Jamaica.
Other returning All-Americans are sprinters Kenzo Cotton, Obi Igbokwe and Jamarco Stephen, middle distance runner Carlton Orange, high jumper Ken LeGassey, and long jumper Andreas Trajkovski.
Along with Arkansas, teams competing at today's meet are Texas Tech, Tulsa and Oral Roberts.
"It's a low-key event, but it's a situation where we start to convince the kids that Christmas vacation is over," Harter said. "We're looking forward to good competition."
Bucknam said the meet will be a gauge for the coaches to see where the Razorbacks are after several months of training.
"Our main priority is not to have any injuries and make sure we start getting into the routine of competing," Bucknam said. "Get a benchmark of where we're at physically and emotionally."
Sports on 01/13/2017