FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012 – MEDIA RELATIONS CONTACT: Zach Lawson (zlawson@uark.edu)

 

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

SEC meet up next for No. 1 Arkansas

 

            FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Following a weekend away from the track, the No. 1 University of Arkansas men’s track and field team turns its attention to the champion portion of its indoor schedule. The 2012 Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships will be held Feb. 24-26 at the Nutter Field House in Lexington, Ky. Competition for the men begins Friday at 2:15 p.m. (CT) with the start of the heptathlon.

            “This is certainly an important meet for us,” head coach Chris Bucknam said. “We’re looking forward to getting there, competing and seeing what happens. I think we’re in pretty good shape. As we’re approaching this weekend, I like our team mindset right now and we’re as ready as we can be for this meet.”

            The SEC Indoor Championships will air as part of a 90-minute show on ESPNU on Sunday, March, 11 at 4 p.m. The meet will also be streamed live via ESPN3.com on Saturday from 1:05-6:30 p.m. and Sunday from 12:25-4 p.m. Kentucky will stream live the portions of the meet not covered by ESPN3.

            Since joining the league in 1991-92, Arkansas has won 17 SEC indoor team titles (1992-95, 1997-2003, 2005-10). That figure is the most by any team during that span. The Razorbacks last won the SEC indoor crown in 2010, capping a six-year streak of team titles. Arkansas has won three of their 17 SEC indoor team titles in Lexington. Last season, the team finished in second place with 136.5 points and captured two event titles from Tarik Batchelor in the long jump and the 4x400-meter relay.

            The Razorback men have collected 90 SEC indoor event titles and have had at least one indoor champion every year during that span. Arkansas won a program-high eight event titles in 1994 and 1995 and has had a champion in 13 of the 16 contested events. Batchelor, Neil Braddy, Drew Butler, Michael Chinchar, Marek Niit, Andrew Pennington, Duncan Phillips and Ben Skidmore are current Razorbacks who have won an SEC title.

            Arkansas will head into the conference meet as the No. 1 team in the country. With the release of this week’s USTFCCCA national poll, the Razorbacks have been the top-ranked team for five consecutive weeks. The SEC continues to lead the NCAA with seven ranked teams. Joining Arkansas at the meet this weekend are No. 2 Florida, No. 4 LSU, No. 17 Auburn, No. 22 Ole Miss and No. 24 Georgia.

            The Razobacks have turned in a handful of top-10 performers on the conference performance list, including six No. 1 event standings. Arkansas owns the top marks in the SEC at 200 meters and 400 meters with Akheem Gauntlett and in the mile with Duncan Phillips, 4x400-meter relay, pole vault with Andrew Irwin and heptathlon with Gunnar Irwin.

            In addition to the video streams, weekend coverage of the 2012 SEC Indoor Championships will include live results and an interactive blog. For more information regarding Razorback track and field or University of Arkansas athletics, please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

 

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