FAYETTEVILLE -- Season's best performances determine which individuals advance to the NCAA Men's and the NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships, but team points determine the team champions for the NCAA and SEC Indoor Championships.
So while naturally an objective for Friday and Saturday's Razorback Invitational that Arkansas hosts at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track is qualifying individuals for the NCAA Indoor, team scores will be kept for what likely is this indoor season's most star-studded collegiate meet other than the March 11-12 NCAA meet at Birmingham, Ala.
"The quality of competition makes this a NCAA preview at our place," said Lance Harter, coach of Arkansas' reigning SEC and NCAA Indoor champion women.
Besides Arkansas, this field includes Texas, Oregon, Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, LSU, Kansas, Purdue, Iowa, Iowa State, Florida State and UCLA.
In men's indoor rankings, Florida, Texas and Oregon rank 1-2-3. Georgia ranks sixth, Texas A&M, ninth, Arkansas, 10th, LSU, 14th, Oklahoma State, 16th and Purdue, 24th.
For the women, Arkansas, Georgia and Texas rank 1-2-3. Oregon ranks fifth, Florida, sixth, LSU 12th, and Texas A&M, 21st.
Assembling this elite field and not keeping score, more the norm with track coaches customarily caring about team points only for the NCAA and conference championships, seems ludicrous to Arkansas men's coach Chris Bucknam.
Bucknam insists scoring this meet increases interest for the SEC Indoor that Arkansas hosts Feb. 27-28 and better prepares this weekend's field for their conference and national meets.
"We think it's critical that there is a score kept," Bucknam said. "Our agenda at Arkansas is team track and field."
Adding to the official 40 NCAA team championships and 84 conference championships that retired Arkansas Coach John McDonnell's men won in indoor track, outdoor track and cross country is the standard that one-time national champion track/cross country coaches Harter, coaching all of Arkansas' 26 SEC women's crowns, and Bucknam, 15 SEC titles for cross country, indoor and outdoor since succeeding McDonnell in 2008, want most from their athletes even while striving for their individual bests.
"In my philosophy, and I know that's been with Coach Mac, the team aspect is the X factor for Arkansas," Bucknam said. "It's not just about being an individual in a selfish kind of sport when you look at it from the pro standpoint. Here you are running for somebody else besides yourself. That's why we score this meet and that's why we love the SEC meet."
Scoring this weekend's "barnburner," Bucknam said, prepares for the "barnburners" to come.
Harter said this weekend certainly should run any complacency out of any of his Razorbacks perhaps fancying last year's SEC triple crown and NCAA Indoor championship will automatically reoccur.
"We have to continue to educate our young people to be ready," Harter said. "Because if you don't run faster they will run over you. This will let even our veteran athletes know that coaches aren't just talking the talk."
Sports on 01/25/2016