STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Thirteen SEC schools tried to alter the Arkansas women's team's triple crown plans Saturday.
When they failed, Mother Nature gave it her best shot with two weather delays.
The Razorbacks hurdled every obstacle,winning the SEC Outdoor Championships by 23.5 points to secure a sweep of the league's cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field titles. Arkansas finished with 127.5 points, with Texas A&M finishing second with 104.
"The competition is extremely enough," Arkansas Coach Lance Harter said. "This is by far the best conference in the United State with such elite athletes, and then throw mother nature to kind of mix it up.
"I just think they did a special, special job."
Florida won the men's title with 130.5 points, with Arkansas and Texas A&M tying for second with 95 points. That was about 15 more points than Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam predicted his team would score heading into the meet.
"Our kids had a heck of a meet this weekend," Bucknam said. "We really battled all weekend long and had some great performances. I'm proud of my team."
Arkansas is the only women's team to sweep all three SEC championships. Saturday's title was the program's third triple crown and its first since 2001. The only other year it accomplished the feat came in 2000.
"I think we have great leadership," Harter said. "Our upperclass leadership, they do such a fantastic job of in the level of competition rallying the troops."
Arkansas' women entered the final day in first place with an 8.5-point cushion. The Razorbacks built upon that lead with strong performances by Dominique Scott.
Scott, a junior, began her day by winning the 1,500 meters, finishing in 4:15.20, more than three seconds better than anyone in the field. She closed it with a victory in the 5,000 in wet soggy cool conditions after finishing second in the SEC last year and sixth nationally.
She crossed the line in 16:06.52, cheered and pointed to the sky. Then Scott turned around to watch teammate Diane Robison, the champion in the 10,000 on Thursday, finish second in 16:07.81.
"I kept looking at the board to see where she was," Scott said. "I knew she was going to be close. I also knew she had a race in her legs, but it was great to know that I could pull her through to a second place."
Kemoy Campbell found vindication in the men's 5,000 after a subpar finish in the 1,500. The senior finished fifth in the 1500, which he called "my event," but his time of 13:62.52 helped Arkansas finish 1-2 in the 5,000. Stanley Kebenei finished second after he won the steeplechase Friday.
Omar McLeod won Arkansas' only other event of the day in the 110-meter hurdles.
"If I don't do good in one race I'm going to come through on the next," Campbell said. "That's just how I am. Every time I enter a race, if that's my mentality, I always do good in the race."
Arkansas' men entered the meet ranked eighth in the country.
"We're a young team," Bucknam said. "Look out for us in the future."
The women looked no further than Saturday as they chanted "Trip-trip-triple crown" on the ESPN telecast. The SEC champions called the Hogs, snapped pictures in front of the scoreboard and poised while pointing one finger to the sky.
"You're challenging those kids to rise to a very extreme level time and time again," Harter said. "That's a tribute tor our training program, but especially our athletes. They're a very unique group."
Sports on 05/17/2015