Hogs XC look for strong meet in Texas
FAYETTEVILLE — It’s not just Arkansas’ men’s basketball team up against Texas today.
The Razorbacks men’s and women’s cross country teams also run today against the Longhorns.
Unlike Friday night’s winner take all basketball game at the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, coach Chris Bucknam’s Razorback men and coach Lance Harter’s Razorback women can still achieve their objective of running second to Texas as long as they beat all other teams at the NCAA South Central Regional Qualifying meet hosted by Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.
The top two teams at Friday’s men’s 10K and women’s 6K in College Station automatically advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships Nov. 17 in Madison, Wis.
Considering Harter’s nationally No. 5 SEC champion women and Bucknam’s nationally No. 19 Southeastern Conference runner-up men are the only ranked teams running Friday in College Station’s meet that is mainly comprised of Texas- and Louisiana-based schools, they should have relatively easy ride with the unranked but talented Longhorns which are projected the next best in both races.
“Nothing is as easy as it seems,” Bucknam said. “So, we take the attitude of trying to get the job done and hopefully not have to spend too much energy because in another week (at Madison) we have to run another 10K. It’s a qualifying meet for us, so as long as we’re in the top two, it’s as good as a first.”
Bucknam knows well succeeding Southwest Conference dominant coach John McDonnell of the Arkansas versus Texas SWC rivalry past in all sports.
“I know the history,” Bucknam said. “I’ve been around here long enough to know whether from the dual meets we’ve hosted against them indoors or running against them at Nationals. They are an outstanding program, and we always like to run against them. Texas does have some outstanding athletes that can put together a good meet on that day down at Texas A&M.”
SEC champion Gilbert Boit leads Bucknam’s men, also relying on Cameron Griffith, Ryan Murphy and Ethan Moehn, while expecting Matt Young, last year’s SEC Freshman of the Year, to rebound from a struggling SEC meet.
Graham Brown and Colin O’Mara are Bucknam’s sixth and seventh runners.
Harter’s women are dominating the SEC placing sixth in the top 10. They were led by freshman Katrina Robinson, with Lauren Gregory, Carina Viljoen and Taylor Werner running second, third, fourth and sixth with Sydney Brown and Maddy Reed, ninth and 10th.
Friday’s field isn’t as tough as the SEC field that Arkansas outclassed.
“We can dictate our future,” Harter said. “The University of Texas is probably the next best challenger, I guess is the way to describe it. We’ve kind of had our way with them.
“A&M and SMU and such are going to try to put together a good showing because they’re running for their lives, and that’s the only danger is that when you have somebody that has to do a remarkable effort to be able to even advance to the national meet. So we need to go out and take care of it as controlled as possible.”