Cross country

The University of Arkansas men’s and women’s cross country teams will be looking for another sweep when they compete today in the NCAA South Central Regional meet at College Station, Texas.

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas men’s and women’s cross country teams will be looking for another sweep when they compete today at the NCAA South Central Regional meet in College Station, Texas.

Arkansas’ No. 5-ranked women’s team, which won its sixth consecutive SEC title, is going for its eighth consecutive regional victory and 23rd overall.

The No. 19 Arkansas men’s team, which took second at the SEC meet behind Ole Miss, is going for its sixth consecutive regional title and 37th overall.

The top two teams in the

women’s 6,000 meters race and men’s 10,000 meters race automatically advance to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 17 in Madison, Wis.

Women’s teams from Arkansas State University, the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and the University of Central Arkansas also will run in the South Central Regional meet.

Teams from UAPB and UCA will run in the men’s race. UAPB won the won the Southwestern Athletic Conference title and UCA won the Southland Conference title.

Arkansas’ women’s team will be led by SEC freshman of the year Katrina Robinson.

“We have faced pretty much everybody,” Arkansas women’s Coach Lance Carter said. “The University of Texas is probably the next best challenger. We’ve kind of had our way with them.”

Harter said while Arkansas is a heavy favorite, the Razorbacks won’t take anything for granted.

“We’ll be ready for a race and a good challenge,” he said. “But at the same time we’re going to try to make it as team-oriented and controlled as possible.”

Harter said the Razorbacks will plan to run as a pack early in the race.

“Just kind of check out where everybody’s at,” he said. “Make sure we’re in a good position to walk away with the team title.”

Arkansas’ men’s team will be led by junior Gilbert Boit, the SEC champion and runner of the year.

“Hopefully, we get the job done,” Razorbacks men’s Coach Chris Bucknam said. “Nothing is as easy as it seems.

“We take the attitude of trying to get the job done and hopefully not have to spend too much energy, because in another week we have to run another 10,000 [at the national meet]. We prepared for that with our training.”

Bucknam said Texas — the Razorbacks’ former Southwest Conference rival — figures to be Arkansas’ main challenger for the men’s regional title.

“I know the history,” he said. “They’re an outstanding program and we always like to run against them.”

Bucknam and Harter both had high praise for Texas A&M’s Dale Watts Cross Country Course where the regional meet will be run.

“The A&M course is fairly flat and a very nice course,” Bucknam said. “It’s one of my favorites.”

Many cross country meets are run on golf courses, but Texas A&M built a course strictly for cross country.

“If Texas A&M has done one thing right it’s build a perfect cross country course,” Harter said. “It is absolutely beautiful.”

The course opened in 2014.

“When you spend $1.5 million for a cross country course, you can get a really nice product,” Harter said. “They did an absolutely bang-up job.”