2008 Woodie Awards
Track Hogs have last chance to qualify for nationals
Matt Watson
Issue date: 3/7/08 Section: Sports
While the Arkansas men's basketball team will play for a shot at the NCAA Tournament next weekend when the SEC Tourney kicks off in Atlanta, the last opportunity for several track Hogs to punch their tickets to nationals is today's Arkansas Last Chance meet.
With exactly one week until the NCAA Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, No. 8 Arkansas and the No. 13 Lady'Backs will seek to improve provisional marks and try to gain elusive automatic qualifiers.
"It's the last chance, so it's do or die," said distance runner Scott MacPherson. "We're all hoping to qualify for nationals."
The Razorbacks have recorded 21 NCAA qualifying marks so far in 2008, but only 14 of those performance are in the top 25 marks on the national performance lists, found on TrackShark.com.
Monday is Selection Monday, when the NCAA will announce the accepted entries into the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships based on the qualifiers this season.
The Arkansas Last Chance field will consist of No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Florida, No. 9 Texas,
No. 12 Oregon, No. 13 Oklahoma, No. 15 Baylor, No. 24 Kansas, California, Colorado and TCU.
The Last Chance meet starts at 2 p.m. today with the high jump. Running events will begin at 3 p.m. with the 400 meters. The 4x400 is the last event, scheduled to start at 8:45 p.m. Admisssion is free for everyone.
Arkansas climbed six spots in the the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches of America rankings this week, one of five SEC teams in the top 25.
The USTFCCCA poll is based on previous qualifiers in the season, so even though Arkansas won the SEC Championship last weekend among the field of LSU, Florida and Tennessee, all three schools are ranked ahead of the Hogs in the latest rankings.
Two Razorbacks earned NCAA provisional marks at last year's Arkansas Last Chance, Colin Costello in the mile run and Mychael Stewart in the long jump.
Six track Hogs qualifed for nationals in 2007, where they finished seventh overall, the lowest finish since 1981 for head coach John McDonnell.
The Razorbacks returned five of those athletes this year, senior Stewart, juniors MacPherson, Nkosinza Balumbu and Costello, and sophomore Alain Bailey.
With exactly one week until the NCAA Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, No. 8 Arkansas and the No. 13 Lady'Backs will seek to improve provisional marks and try to gain elusive automatic qualifiers.
"It's the last chance, so it's do or die," said distance runner Scott MacPherson. "We're all hoping to qualify for nationals."
The Razorbacks have recorded 21 NCAA qualifying marks so far in 2008, but only 14 of those performance are in the top 25 marks on the national performance lists, found on TrackShark.com.
Monday is Selection Monday, when the NCAA will announce the accepted entries into the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships based on the qualifiers this season.
The Arkansas Last Chance field will consist of No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Florida, No. 9 Texas,
No. 12 Oregon, No. 13 Oklahoma, No. 15 Baylor, No. 24 Kansas, California, Colorado and TCU.
The Last Chance meet starts at 2 p.m. today with the high jump. Running events will begin at 3 p.m. with the 400 meters. The 4x400 is the last event, scheduled to start at 8:45 p.m. Admisssion is free for everyone.
Arkansas climbed six spots in the the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches of America rankings this week, one of five SEC teams in the top 25.
The USTFCCCA poll is based on previous qualifiers in the season, so even though Arkansas won the SEC Championship last weekend among the field of LSU, Florida and Tennessee, all three schools are ranked ahead of the Hogs in the latest rankings.
Two Razorbacks earned NCAA provisional marks at last year's Arkansas Last Chance, Colin Costello in the mile run and Mychael Stewart in the long jump.
Six track Hogs qualifed for nationals in 2007, where they finished seventh overall, the lowest finish since 1981 for head coach John McDonnell.
The Razorbacks returned five of those athletes this year, senior Stewart, juniors MacPherson, Nkosinza Balumbu and Costello, and sophomore Alain Bailey.
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