Hog Calls

UA teams plan to heat up at home

Arkansas women's track and field coach Lance Harter watches during the Arkansas Open Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015, at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Turns out among Arkansas Razorbacks that Mike Anderson's basketball team didn't have the worst Saturday in Lexington, Ky.

Coach Lance Harter's women's track team suffered a worse finish Saturday in Lexington even while winning the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships after being paced by six first-place finishes, including two by distance runner Dominique Scott.

So did Coach Chris Bucknam's men's track team, which finished second to top-ranked Florida at the indoor meet but still posted an outstanding performance. Omar McLeod set a 60-meter SEC record by running the second-fastest time (7.49 seconds) in NCAA indoor history, senior Andrew Irwin of Mount Ida won the pole vault and distance runner Kemoy Campbell won the 3,000 and 5,000 meters.

Anderson's Razorbacks took an 84-67 thumping from No. 1 Kentucky, but at least they finished the night in their own beds in Fayetteville.

The track teams did not, even though they also flew on a charter from Lexington.

When contacted Sunday morning, Bucknam, Harter and their teams were still at a Memphis hotel. Their luggage was on the plane in Tunica, Miss.

"It's been a cluster," Bucknam said. "The basketball team made it into [Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport] an hour ahead of us. By the time we arrived there was too much ice to handle us. They turned us around."

Tunica became their accommodating airport, but no Tunica hotels had accommodating vacancies. So the teams finally drove to Memphis, Bucknam and Harter said, "after hours of sitting on the plane" first in Lexington and then Tunica awaiting departure approval.

"I didn't lay down in my hotel room until 5 o'clock in the morning," Bucknam said at noon Sunday. "I don't anticipate we get home until 9 or 10 tonight, but our guys and gals have been good sports."

Both coaches said they were as proud of their athletes' patience following their meet as their performances during the competition.

Fulfilling their national No. 1 ranking by winning the SEC Indoor title -- their third consecutive conference crown following last spring's SEC outdoor and SEC cross country titles -- helped, Harter said.

"If we were coming home from this fifth or sixth it would have been a real bummer," Harter said.

Pole vaulter Sandi Morris, Chrishuna Williams (800 meters), Scott (mile and 3,000) and the distance medley and 1,600 relays earned first-place points for Arkansas.

Bucknam's No. 3 men's team knew it faced an uphill fight with Florida going into the meet.

"My hats off to them," Bucknam said. "They have a great team. Second place is not what we aspire to, but it's a tough league. We still beat a lot of good teams."

Texas A&M is fourth nationally. LSU, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee rank the top 13.

Harter's Razorbacks will be the women's favorite at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and Bucknam vows his team will be in the mix for the men's title.

Rest assured the Razorbacks will rest in more familiar surroundings the night the NCAA Indoor meet concludes than they were following the SEC Indoor Championships.

Arkansas hosts the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 13-14 at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track.

Sports on 03/02/2015