SEC Cross Country Championships

Razorbacks complete 5th consecutive sweep

Arkansas senior Alex George "throws the A" Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, as he comes in to win the men's collegiate 10k during the 29th annual Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival at Ari Park in Fayetteville.

This has to be getting old for the rest of the SEC, but not for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The Razorbacks' men's and women's teams swept titles at the SEC Cross Country Championships on Friday for the fifth consecutive year and 17th time in 27 meets since joining the conference.

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville's latest sweep came in Athens, Ga., as did the Razorbacks' first in 1991 in their inaugural SEC competition in any sport after moving from the Southwest Conference.

Arkansas' men's team, led by seniors Alex George and Jack Bruce, won with 41 points. Alabama was second with 81.

The Arkansas women, led by sophomores Taylor Werner and Carina Viljoen, won with 35 points. Georgia was second with 88 points.

Both Arkansas teams called the Hogs at the awards ceremony as they always do after winning SEC titles.

"No doubt about it, to the point that I think the audience start to get a little tired of it," Arkansas women's Coach Lance Harter said. "But that's OK.

"As far as the team races go, there was no resistance whatsoever."

Alabama's Vincent Kiprop (23:15.4), Gilbert Kigen (23:18.8) and Alfred Chelanga (23:23.4) took the first three spots in the men's race, but the Crimson Tide couldn't match Arkansas' depth as the Razorbacks' five scorers finished among the top 13.

George was fourth (23:34.3) followed by Bruce in sixth (23:51.7), junior Cameron Griffith seventh (23:53.5), freshman Matt Young 11th (24:10.8) and senior Austen Dalquist 13th (24:16.2).

"We had great performances across the board," Arkansas men's Coach Chris Bucknam said.

The Razorbacks men's team won their 25th SEC title to match Tennessee for the most in the conference. The Vols won their first SEC tittle in 1949 -- 42 years before Arkansas joined the conference.

It also was the Razorbacks' 42nd conference title in the last 44 years, 50th overall and eighth in a row.

Arkansas won 34 consecutive conference championships from 1974-2007 under Coach John McDonnell.

"It was a big win on a lot of different levels," Bucknam said. "To get our 25th SEC title in the same place Coach Mac won Arkansas' first in the SEC and win our 50th means a lot.

"It was fun in that regard knowing that we made a connection with past teams."

Werner (20:07.1) finished second in the women's women's 6,000-meter race to Missouri senior Karissa Schweizer (19:36.3), who won her second consecutive SEC title and is the defending NCAA champion.

"This was a big breakthrough for Taylor," Harter said. "She's really starting to come on to her All-American form. Karissa is the only one that was able to get away from her, and no one's going to run with Karissa."

Viljoen was sixth (20:29.1) with Arkansas senior Therese Haiss in seventh (20:39.2), freshman Lauren Gregory eighth (20:41.2) and senior Nikki Hiltz 12th (20:49.5) to round out the scoring.

It was Arkansas' 18th SEC title, which is one more than the other conference schools have combined since the first women's meet in 1983. Florida is second with six titles.

"We just had a race plan that, 'Hey, we're Arkansas. We're going out and establishing ourselves early and see if anybody wants to come with us,' " Harter said. "We did that in the first 1,000 meters of the race and the kids just locked in."

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Sports on 10/28/2017