Team of the Year - Arkansas Razorbacks
Team of the Year - Arkansas Razorbacks
Arkansas Men's Track & Field
Team of the Year - Best of 2013
So why the big deal over an indoor title...
A common phrase when an all-time great retires is "I wouldn't want to be the guy following in his footsteps." I remember saying the exact phrase when long time Arkansas coach John McDonnell retired.
In the summer of 2008, former Northern Iowa head coach Chris Bucknam was named that guy. When you step into a role at Arkansas you aren't measured by top 10 finishes or number of All-Americans - you are measure by winning national titles.
You can thank McDonnell for that. In his 36 years at Arkansas, McDonnell won 40 national titles. Five times he won the triple crown (XC, indoor, outdoor). UTEP is the only other school to accomplish the feat. In the 1990s, Arkansas won 24 out of 30 national championships contested.
In the first 4 years that Bucknam took over, the Razorbacks finished in the top 10 eight times between the three seasons and were even runner-up indoors in 2012 by only five points.
But as we said, that doesn't really matter. Unfortunately and somewhat unfairly for Bucknam, the mythical McDonnell measuring system (not actually a real thing) was still looking for a title.
Welcome 2013. Arkansas was hosting the NCAA Indoor championships for only the second time in Bucknam's five years there. Before that, Arkansas was home to the NCAA Indoor Championships for nine consecutive years. It seemed like now was as good of a time as any to get the monkey off their back. Arkansas was coming in as the favorite, but it wouldn't be easy. Along with the pressure to win at home there was also SEC rival, University of Florida, who had won the last three NCAA indoor titles and were coming off their first ever outdoor title.
USTFCCCA pre-NCAA rankings
At the start of day two of the competition Arkansas lead all teams and had a 16 lead on Florida, but there was no room for error. Florida was just getting things going with the nation's top hurdler, the deepest 400/4x400 crew and two of the top ranked triple jumpers. Arkansas had taken a big hit the previous night in the 800m when the national leader, Leoman Momoh, failed to qualify for the finals and a dropped baton in the DMR left them one place out of scoring in the event.
In the triple jump Arkansas' #1 ranked Tarik Batchelor was outjumped and ended up 3rd. Florida took second and fourth which brought the Gators within five points with only two events remaining, 3000 meters and 4x400. Florida would need to beat Arkansas by six points in the relay to win the meet (i.e. Florida first, Arkansas no better than 5th)... assuming no points are scored in the 3k.
Enter Kemoy Campbell. The Jamaican was ranked 15th out of 16 in the 3k in one of the deepest NCAA 3k fields ever (it took 7:53 to qualify). The night before in the DMR, Campbell ran the anchor leg in 4:08 in an effort to grab points for the Razorbacks, which was after dropping the baton and having to run backwards to get the stick. With Florida having no one in the 3k, the result that would give the Gators no chance to defend their title would be for Campbell to finished 3rd place or better.
Never doubt a man when he's at home and a title's on the line. Campbell ran the race of his life, setting a seven second PR (7:46) and finishing second by only a second to Arizona's phenom Lawi Lalang (see Kemoy's interview after 3k). Arkansas' lead had grown to 13 points, meaning they could not even run the relay and they would still be NCAA Champions. But they obviously wouldn't do that, actually they did the complete opposite.
Arkansas closed out the meet with a bang. They were only ranked third coming into the race, a full two seconds behind Texas A&M and Florida, but they decided to throw rankings out the window. Not only did the Razorbacks win, they ran a collegiate and NCAA meet record time of 3:03.50 (4x4 interview). I'd call that a nice little cherry on top.
The new era in Arkansas is here. McDonnell will never be forgotten, but now Bucknam and his program can start writing a new history for the Razorbacks (interview with John McDonnell after Arkansas' win). And to close out the great year for Arkansas, after the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June where Arkansas finished 3rd (only 6.5 behind the win), the program earned their first John McDonnell Program of the Year award. The award was for the top program in the nation based on combined finishes at each of the three NCAA Championships (they finished 10th in XC that fall). What a fitting end to the year...
Here's a great interview with coach Bucknam after winning his first and Arkansas' 20th NCAA Indoor title:
Team of the Year - Best of 2013
So why the big deal over an indoor title...
A common phrase when an all-time great retires is "I wouldn't want to be the guy following in his footsteps." I remember saying the exact phrase when long time Arkansas coach John McDonnell retired.
In the summer of 2008, former Northern Iowa head coach Chris Bucknam was named that guy. When you step into a role at Arkansas you aren't measured by top 10 finishes or number of All-Americans - you are measure by winning national titles.
You can thank McDonnell for that. In his 36 years at Arkansas, McDonnell won 40 national titles. Five times he won the triple crown (XC, indoor, outdoor). UTEP is the only other school to accomplish the feat. In the 1990s, Arkansas won 24 out of 30 national championships contested.
In the first 4 years that Bucknam took over, the Razorbacks finished in the top 10 eight times between the three seasons and were even runner-up indoors in 2012 by only five points.
But as we said, that doesn't really matter. Unfortunately and somewhat unfairly for Bucknam, the mythical McDonnell measuring system (not actually a real thing) was still looking for a title.
Welcome 2013. Arkansas was hosting the NCAA Indoor championships for only the second time in Bucknam's five years there. Before that, Arkansas was home to the NCAA Indoor Championships for nine consecutive years. It seemed like now was as good of a time as any to get the monkey off their back. Arkansas was coming in as the favorite, but it wouldn't be easy. Along with the pressure to win at home there was also SEC rival, University of Florida, who had won the last three NCAA indoor titles and were coming off their first ever outdoor title.
USTFCCCA pre-NCAA rankings
At the start of day two of the competition Arkansas lead all teams and had a 16 lead on Florida, but there was no room for error. Florida was just getting things going with the nation's top hurdler, the deepest 400/4x400 crew and two of the top ranked triple jumpers. Arkansas had taken a big hit the previous night in the 800m when the national leader, Leoman Momoh, failed to qualify for the finals and a dropped baton in the DMR left them one place out of scoring in the event.
In the triple jump Arkansas' #1 ranked Tarik Batchelor was outjumped and ended up 3rd. Florida took second and fourth which brought the Gators within five points with only two events remaining, 3000 meters and 4x400. Florida would need to beat Arkansas by six points in the relay to win the meet (i.e. Florida first, Arkansas no better than 5th)... assuming no points are scored in the 3k.
Enter Kemoy Campbell. The Jamaican was ranked 15th out of 16 in the 3k in one of the deepest NCAA 3k fields ever (it took 7:53 to qualify). The night before in the DMR, Campbell ran the anchor leg in 4:08 in an effort to grab points for the Razorbacks, which was after dropping the baton and having to run backwards to get the stick. With Florida having no one in the 3k, the result that would give the Gators no chance to defend their title would be for Campbell to finished 3rd place or better.
Never doubt a man when he's at home and a title's on the line. Campbell ran the race of his life, setting a seven second PR (7:46) and finishing second by only a second to Arizona's phenom Lawi Lalang (see Kemoy's interview after 3k). Arkansas' lead had grown to 13 points, meaning they could not even run the relay and they would still be NCAA Champions. But they obviously wouldn't do that, actually they did the complete opposite.
Arkansas closed out the meet with a bang. They were only ranked third coming into the race, a full two seconds behind Texas A&M and Florida, but they decided to throw rankings out the window. Not only did the Razorbacks win, they ran a collegiate and NCAA meet record time of 3:03.50 (4x4 interview). I'd call that a nice little cherry on top.
The new era in Arkansas is here. McDonnell will never be forgotten, but now Bucknam and his program can start writing a new history for the Razorbacks (interview with John McDonnell after Arkansas' win). And to close out the great year for Arkansas, after the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June where Arkansas finished 3rd (only 6.5 behind the win), the program earned their first John McDonnell Program of the Year award. The award was for the top program in the nation based on combined finishes at each of the three NCAA Championships (they finished 10th in XC that fall). What a fitting end to the year...
Here's a great interview with coach Bucknam after winning his first and Arkansas' 20th NCAA Indoor title:
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