FAYETTEVILLE — LSU rates No. 1 in the national men’s and women’s outdoor track and field rankings but only Arkansas could achieve SEC Cross Country-Indoor-Outdoor triple crowns when the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships run Thursday through Saturday at Texas A&M’s Cushing Stadium in College Station, Texas.
Winning 20 of the last 21 SEC Women’s Cross Country-Indoor-and Outdoor meets and likely SEC triple crown winners for 2019-2020 but for the COVID pandemic canceling the 2020 outdoor season, Coach Lance Harter’s Razorbacks seek their seventh SEC triple crown upon winning SEC Cross Country last fall and SEC and NCAA Indoor last winter.
“We were well on our way last year and we’re going to try to get No. 7,” Harter said of Arkansas’ women’s conference triple crowns. “It does give us more incentive. That’s something that we’ll talk about in our first team meeting down at A&M.”
He tipped his hand what he he would tell his team.
“You guys worked so hard to get cross country and you got indoor,” Harter said. “And you had to fend off Alabama in cross country and A&M indoors and now you’ve got to fend off LSU outdoors. We’re probably the common denominator and then the rest of the SEC lines up against us.”
Inheriting the incomparable 20 men’s conference triple crowns that retired Arkansas predecessor and legend John McDonnell achieved in the Southwest Conference and SEC, Coach Chris Bucknam has kept the Arkansas men aloft. Arkansas has 24 SEC crowns under Bucknam including three SEC triple crowns and gunning for a fourth after fending off Ole Miss in cross country and LSU indoors.
Achieving the triple would just triple the achievement that would come with the nationally No. 12 Razorbacks outpointing nationally No. 1 LSU.
“It exemplifies the total strength of our program,” Bucknam said of the what-if his Hogs completed another triple crown. “We mentioned that this would be our fourth conference championship in a row (dating back to the 2020 SEC Indoor) if we win. Our guys are aware of it, that’s for sure, So we need to take care of business.”
On the conference level, where team’s 30-roster depth is a premium, Arkansas’ men stand a better chance against LSU in College Station than at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June at Eugene, Ore.
“The conference rankings are different,” Bucknam said. “The Coaches Association has us, one and LSU, two. A&M, three, Tennessee, four, and Alabama, five. So that tells our story that we’ve been a good conference team.”