FAYETTEVILLE — Before college football games start on Saturday, the NCAA Cross Country Championships will be run in Stillwater, Okla., and shown live on ESPNU.
Arkansas' women's team, ranked No. 21, will compete in the 6,000-meter race at 9:20 a.m. Central, and the Razorbacks’ No. 20 men’s team will get going in the 10,000-meter event at 10:10 a.m.
It will be the final cross country meet for Arkansas women’s coach Lance Harter, who is retiring in June at the end of the outdoor track and field season.
“I’ve spent very little time even thinking about that,” said Harter, who led the Razorbacks to the 2019 NCAA cross country title. “I just want to let these kids have a chance to run fast and have a great experience.”
Arkansas will be led by junior Isabel Van Camp, who won the NCAA South Central Regional title.
“Isabel is running absolutely fantastic,” Harter said. “She’s had a phenomenal season thus far.”
The Razorbacks will be without senior Katie McCune, who has a leg injury. Along with Van Camp, they will run juniors Gracie Hyde and Adoette Vaughn, sophomore Taylor Ewert and freshmen Sydney Thorvaldson, Mia Cochran and Mary Ellen Eudaly.
“We’re going to have to count on three freshmen in the lineup, which is not the greatest idea in the world, but reality is reality,” Harter said. “The kids that are going to wear the uniform are excited about the opportunity and are ready to go.”
Arkansas’ men’s team will be led by sophomore Patrick Kiprop, who won the South Central Regional title. He will be joined in the lineup by seniors Jacob McLeod and Ryan Murphy, juniors Myles Richter and Josh Shearer, sophomore Elias Schreml and freshman Ben Shearer.
“I feel as good about our team as I have all year,” said Arkansas men’s coach Chris Bucknam, who led the Razorbacks to fourth-place finishes at the NCAA meet the previous two years. “All our guys ran within themselves at the regional meet.
“Nobody was over-extended.”