Lance Harter will have to be satisfied with 22 SEC cross country titles.
Harter’s University of Arkansas women’s team finished second to No. 7 Alabama on Friday at the SEC Championships at the Ole Miss Golf Course in Oxford, Miss.
The Crimson Tide won their first conference title since 1987 — four years before Arkansas joined the SEC and began dominating with Harter as the Razorbacks’ coach.
An Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Harter is in his 34th and final school year as the Razorbacks’ cross country and track and field coach.
Harter is retiring in June after the NCAA Outdoor Championships, so Friday was his final SEC cross country meet.
Arkansas won 22 of a possible 32 SEC cross country titles under Harter. Their streak of nine consecutive was ended by Alabama.
The Tide, led by Mercy Chelangat taking second in the 6,000-meter race in 18 minutes, 33.7 seconds and Hilda Olemomoi taking third in 18:54.2, won with 36 points. The No. 21 Razorbacks were second with 74 points.
Florida sophomore Parker Valby won the individual title in 18:25.87.
“I’m more than grateful that we had the athletes that wanted to contribute to the legacy, and I know our kids this year would have loved to grab the 10th title in a row,” Harter said. “But we’ve got to be realistic as well, and I thought we ran as well as we could after losing four seniors from last year’s team.
“We knew we’d have more than our hands full with Alabama, but we went out and tested them. Alabama is just an exceptional team this year and has great front runners and depth.”
Junior Isabel Van Camp led Arkansas, taking fourth in 19:05.50.
“Isabel is our Steady Eddie as far as taking care of business, and our freshmen really ran exceptionally well,” Harter said. “Considering how loaded the SEC is in distance runners, our freshmen were tremendous.”
Arkansas freshmen Sydney Thorvaldson (20:00.6) and Mia Cochran (20:01.2) finished 11th and 12th.
Also scoring for Arkansas were seniors Katie McCune (21st in 20:31.96) and Gracie Hyde (20:35.66).
McCune, a transfer from Drury College, missed two meets earlier this season because of a foot injury.
“Katie was basically not able to train running-wise for 2 1/2 weeks,” Harter said. “To bounce back like she did just shows her exceptional talent.”
Hyde, who is from Jonesboro, transferred to Arkansas from the University of Central Arkansas for her junior season.
“That was definitely Gracie’s best cross country race for us,” Harter said. “She kept focus and stayed engaged to the challenge at hand.”
Arkansas freshman Mary Ellen Eudaly was 27th (20:37.2) and sophomore Taylor Ewert 32nd (20:45.3).
“Everybody was very cordial, even though I think some are happy that I’m leaving,” Harter said with a laugh when asked how he was treated Friday by his SEC coaching peers. “I think they also were appreciative of what we were able to do with a young group.”
Ole Miss was third with 83 points.
“I was really, really pleased we were able to hold off Ole Miss, which is a veteran team that ran on their home course,” Harter said. “Our kids did a great job.”