FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas men’s track and field team gets its season underway Friday morning with the Arkansas Invitational. The season opener is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville. Field events begin at 11 a.m. (CT) with the shot put while the running events are set for a 1:10 p.m. start.
The meet will wrap up at 5 p.m. with the running of the 4x400-meter relay. In addition to Arkansas, Friday’s meet is scheduled to include student-athletes from Missouri Southern, Missouri State, Oklahoma Christian, Oral Roberts and Prairie View A&M.
With its 2012 roster, Arkansas features 12 returning All-Americans. Included in that group are seniors Tarik Batchelor, Rick Elliott, Duncan Phillips and Ben Skidmore. The beginning of the season will mark the fourth for the Razorbacks under the direction of head coach Chris Bucknam and assistant coaches Doug Case and Travis Geopfert.
The Arkansas Invitational is the first of five home indoor meets for the Razorbacks. The team is also slated to host the Arkansas-Texas Dual (Jan. 13), Razorback Invitational (27-28), Tyson Invitational (Feb. 10-11) and Arkansas Last Chance (March 2). This year’s SEC Indoor Championships will be held Feb. 24-26 in Lexington, Ky., while the NCAA Indoor Championships will be contested March 9-10 in Boise, Idaho.
At last year’s season-opening Arkansas Invitational, the Razorbacks came away with three event victories with first-place performances in the 800 meters by Leoman Momoh, 1,000 meters by Chuol Dey and triple jump by Batchelor. The winning mark for Batchelor also doubled as an NCAA automatic qualifier.
Meet coverage includes live results, an interactive blog and a live video stream through RazorVision. For more information regarding Razorback track and field or University of Arkansas athletics, please visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
