Track team anxious for new season, new additions
Matt Watson
Issue date: 3/27/09 Section: Sports
Two weeks after finishing eighth overall at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Arkansas track and field team will get back to the track to open the 2009 outdoor track season.
Most schools would be thrilled with a top 10 national finish, but the Razorbacks, who have 19 national indoor titles in school history, won the Southeastern Conference Championship and held the No. 1 ranking in the country for several weeks in the season, were expecting more.
"We had hoped to do a little bit better in that indoor (NCAA) meet," first-year UA coach Chris Bucknam said, "and we're starting to get anxious to get going again."
Arkansas will send a contingent of athletes to this weekend's Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., including senior captain Nkosinza Balumbu, who Bucknam said was disappointed in his personal performance, a fifth-place finish in the triple jump after winning the event in 2008.
Also competing will be seniors Shawn Forrest (distance), Mychael Stewart (jumps/sprints) and James Strang (distance) and sophomore Lane Boyer (distance).
While Bucknam said the Hogs have a determined attitude heading into the outdoor season, he was quick to acknowledge their accomplishments indoors.
"We nailed it at the conference championships. We're SEC Champions," Bucknam said. "Oregon can't claim that. Florida can't claim that. We can claim that. And yet on the other hand, I thought we just didn't have our A-game at the national meet."
Oregon won the NCAA indoor title with 54 points, with Florida finishing runner-up with 36. Arkansas' 24 points matched its 2008 team total, when the Hogs finished 6th at indoor nationals.
"We always learn every season. Every week we're trying to get smarter. We're going to take those lessons and apply them to the outdoor track season," Bucknam said, "and that's just being smart and staying injury free.
"These guys train hard. They're a great bunch of guys. Injuries happen, especially in these endurance events. That's just the way it is. They're a good group and they're anxious to get to the outdoor season," Bucknam said.
Most schools would be thrilled with a top 10 national finish, but the Razorbacks, who have 19 national indoor titles in school history, won the Southeastern Conference Championship and held the No. 1 ranking in the country for several weeks in the season, were expecting more.
"We had hoped to do a little bit better in that indoor (NCAA) meet," first-year UA coach Chris Bucknam said, "and we're starting to get anxious to get going again."
Arkansas will send a contingent of athletes to this weekend's Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., including senior captain Nkosinza Balumbu, who Bucknam said was disappointed in his personal performance, a fifth-place finish in the triple jump after winning the event in 2008.
Also competing will be seniors Shawn Forrest (distance), Mychael Stewart (jumps/sprints) and James Strang (distance) and sophomore Lane Boyer (distance).
While Bucknam said the Hogs have a determined attitude heading into the outdoor season, he was quick to acknowledge their accomplishments indoors.
"We nailed it at the conference championships. We're SEC Champions," Bucknam said. "Oregon can't claim that. Florida can't claim that. We can claim that. And yet on the other hand, I thought we just didn't have our A-game at the national meet."
Oregon won the NCAA indoor title with 54 points, with Florida finishing runner-up with 36. Arkansas' 24 points matched its 2008 team total, when the Hogs finished 6th at indoor nationals.
"We always learn every season. Every week we're trying to get smarter. We're going to take those lessons and apply them to the outdoor track season," Bucknam said, "and that's just being smart and staying injury free.
"These guys train hard. They're a great bunch of guys. Injuries happen, especially in these endurance events. That's just the way it is. They're a good group and they're anxious to get to the outdoor season," Bucknam said.
Be the first to comment on this story