How cool would it be pulling off Arkansas’ first ever simultaneous men’s and women’s national championship sweep?
“That would be really cool,” Harter replied. “But it’s a tall order.”
Bucknam avidly concurred on both counts.
It is a tall order but obviously by their rankings not necessarily insurmountable. Just take the rankings for what they are: Conjecture, both coaches say.
Sixteen qualifiers in each individual event vying for top eight team points on a 10 points for first eight, for second and descending corresponding six points to one for third through eight plus the same top eight scoring for the distance medley and 4 x 400 relays can render form defying results.
“Rankings I’m going to typically say they don’t mean much,” Bucknam said. “It’s what happens at the meet. I’d have to say anyone that’s ranked in the Top 10 has a shot at this thing. It’s going to be really close. I’ve never seen on the men’s side this balance in a long time. I don’t think there is any clear favorite. We’re certainly not. We’ve got a lot of ammunition but we’ve got to hit the target. That’s the key to this whole thing.”
Harter’s women strive for a third consecutive NCAA Indoor title winning in 2019 and 2021 with the 2020 NCAA Indoor covid cancelled in between.
“ It would be outstanding,” Harter said of winning three NCAA Indoor championships consecutively. “But it’s a situation where we will not be the favorite where we were last year and the year before.
We do have a lot of bullets. But like Chris said, they have to hit the target. And our target is try to have 50, 60 points because that’s what it takes on the women’s side to win it.”
Just by winning the SEC Championships, Arkansas has beaten most of the men’s and women’s best.
The men’s rankings show SEC teams Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ole Miss rated first, second, seventh, ninth, 11th and 12th.
Texas Tech, Oregon and North Carolina A&T rank third through fifth among the men.
The women’s rankings rate Florida first, Arkansas second, Texas of the Big 12 third, and SEC members LSU and Kentucky fourth and fifth with Ole Miss seventh and Texas A&M eighth.
“ It’s a situation where all year the four or five of us have been in this exchange of being either first, second, third or fourth,” Harter said of the women’s rankings with same top teams trading places week to week. “It’s been consistent so I think there is a lot of credibility to it. And because the way we’ve scheduled we’ve seen a lot of this competition through the course of the indoor season. And so they’re legit. We’re legit.”
Bucknam said it boils down his Hogs controlling what they control.
“We know it’s going to be a battle,” Bucknam said. “Just do what we’re capable of doing.”
Bucknam and field events coach Travis Geopfert enhanced the chances of nationally No. 1 heptathlete Ayden Owens , 6,272 heptathlon points second all time for collegians, by holding him out of the SEC heptathlon. They also withheld then nursing minor injured long jumpers John Baker and Ryan Brown from the SEC meet.
Fortunate to have them fresh and even more fortunate their calculated gamble still won the SEC team title, Bucknam said.
Especially it would seem, since Kieran Taylor, his 1:47.12 800-meters ranking fifth nationally, suffered his lone 2022 bad race not advancing in the SEC prelims.
“That’s just part of the SEC,” Bucknam said of the nation’s toughest conference meet. “The Georgia athlete No. 2 or 3 in the country didn’t make the final in the SEC 400. Those things. Hopefully Kieran has learned and will have a good race.”
SEC champion Amon Kemboi ranks fourth going into Saturday’s 3,000 and 16th yet fully capable of scoring in the 5,000.
Daniel Spejcher, 15th in the heptathlon. Elias Schreml will mile anchor the 12th-ranked distance medley relay.
Among sprints coach Doug Case’s qualified crew are sixth-ranked 60-meter hurdler Phillip Lemonious, seventh-ranked 400-meter runner James Benson and the fourth-ranked 4 x 400.
Harter’s women sport the No. 1 distance medley anchored for this meet Friday night by miler Isabel Van Kamp as SEC DMR anchor Lauren Gregory doubles in the 3,000 she won at SEC and the 5,000, second in the SEC.
“She’s very fit and very healthy,” Harter said.
Vault coach Bryan Compton has SEC champion Elien Vekemans and Nastassja Campbell ranked fourth and sixth.
Sprints coach Chris Johnson brings abounding numbers with SEC champion Shafiqua Maloney and Quin Owen ranked second and sixth in the 800; Jada Baylark, eighth in the 60-meter dash and eight with Jayla Hollis ninth in the 200-meter dash; Daszay Freeman and Hollis, 11th and 16th in the 60-meter hurdles; Britton Wilson second, Morgan Burks-Magee and Rosey Effiong, 12th in the 400-meter dash and likely comprising three fourths of the nationally leading 4 x 400 relay, 3:24.09, running the meet’s last event Saturday night.
“ It will be really nice if it came down to the 4 x400,” Harter said. “We’d look forward to that.”