Women's collegiate indoor DMR record could be challenged on opening night of two-day event, with several impressive NCAA competitors and professional standouts expected to be showcased during stacked Saturday lineup in Arkansas 

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Lance Harter has watched Arkansas inch ever closer to the collegiate indoor record in the women’s distance medley relay during his illustrious coaching career, producing three of the top four all-time marks, one of which came at last year’s Razorback Invitational.

Harter knows the 2009 standard of 10 minutes, 50.98 seconds established by Tennessee will again be challenged Friday at the annual two-day meet at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, but despite Arkansas being the reigning NCAA Division 1 indoor DMR champions, he doesn’t expect the Razorbacks to be the leading contender.

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“The Razorback Invitational has been a birthing for the DMR nationally,” Harter said. “The race has a dozen teams lined up. There are at least seven or eight teams that can produce times to qualify for NCAA Indoor. I wouldn’t be surprised if the collegiate record is broken this weekend, but it won’t be us. It should be a great race.”

Arkansas ran 10:51.63 to emerge victorious at the Razorback Invitational last season, then improved to 10:51.37 to capture the Division 1 championship in March at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Alabama, achieving the Nos. 2 and 3 all-time indoor marks.

But the biggest threat to eclipsing Tennessee’s record could come from Stanford, the school currently coached by the former head of the Volunteers’ program J.J. Clark.

Although the Cardinal has not announced lineups yet, Stanford has three women’s DMR teams entered, with freshman standouts Juliette Whittaker and Roisin Willis expected to compete. Willis is also expected to race Saturday in the 800, with Whittaker scheduled to compete in the mile.

Stanford boasts a program record of 10:52.02, the sixth-fastest performance in NCAA indoor history.

Oklahoma State has an indoor record of 10:55.01 and could also be in contention, especially with a lineup that includes Gabija Galvydyte and Taylor Roe.

Brigham Young, which won the 2021 NCAA Division 1 indoor DMR title at Randal Tyson Track Center by clocking 10:52.96, is also scheduled to compete with a lineup that could potentially include Claire Seymour and Alena Ellsworth.

Florida, Florida State, Kentucky and Oregon State are also entered in the women’s DMR field. The Wildcats are the collegiate leaders this season at 11:17.69.

The men’s DMR field features a potential impressive showdown involving Oklahoma State and Stanford.

Oregon set the collegiate indoor record of 9:19.42 at the 2021 Razorback Invitational.

Oklahoma State, which triumphed at last year’s meet in 9:28.88, returned to Randal Tyson Track Center in February to win the Arkansas Qualifier in 9:22.70.

Fouad Messaoudi and Juan Diego Castro return from that lineup for the Cowboys.

Stanford is looking to dramatically improve its indoor program record of 9:27.27. The Cardinal took third at last year’s Razorback Invitational in 9:32.18.

Virginia is the men’s collegiate leader this season at 9:37.44.

Arkansas men’s coach Chris Bucknam has decided to delay racing his top DMR lineup until Feb. 17 at the Arkansas Qualifier in preparation for the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships.

The DMR performances won’t be the only elite relays contested at the event, with the 4x400 scheduled to conclude the meet Saturday, featuring the collegiate-leading Arkansas women (3:30.38) clashing with Florida, LSU and Texas A&M in the final section.

The men’s 4x400 is expected to showcase the host Razorbacks squaring off against Baylor, Florida and USC, all ranked in the top five in the country this season. Texas Tech is the Division 1 leader at 3:04.52.

“The 4 x 400 will be a precursor to the NCAA final,” Bucknam said. “We’re excited about competing and going against some of the best athletes in the country.”

Arkansas will also showcase several transfers, led by former Tennessee star Carey McLeod in the long jump and another former Volunteer standout in Jordan West in the shot put.

Ralford Mullings, who competed last year at Arizona State, is expected to make his debut in the shot put, joining Clemson transfer Roje Stona and West.

Marcus Weaver, a two-time NCAA Division 3 decathlon and javelin champion at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, is scheduled to compete for the Razorbacks in the heptathlon.

Lexington Hilton, an Arkansas State transfer, is entered in the 3,000 meters after winning the mile Jan. 13 in a personal-best 3:58.70 at the Arkansas Invitational.

“We’ll sprinkle a few more athletes in from where we started a couple weeks ago when we had about 80 percent of our team competing,” Bucknam said. “We have six SEC teams here and teams from each of the Power 5 conferences. It’s a phenomenal track meet and it gets real this weekend. It’s ‘Game On’ now.”

Stanford enters the meet as the top-ranked men’s team in the country on the strength of a distance lineup that includes NCAA Division 1 cross country champion Charles Hicks, plus collegiate mile and 5,000-meter leader Ky Robinson, along with Cole Sprout and Thomas Boyden.

Udodi Onwuzurike, who represented Nigeria at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games, is expected to make his season debut for the Cardinal in the 60-meter dash.

Arkansas’ Britton Wilson, LSU’s Alia Armstrong, along with Florida teammates Talitha Diggs and Jasmine Moore, plus Texas A&M’s Lamara Distin and Roe of Oklahoma State are all reigning NCAA women’s champions scheduled to compete in Fayetteville.

“This meet includes 16 of the best programs in the U.S.,” Harter said. “It’s exceptional and every event has a premium in performance capability. The field events are going to be outrageous and the seed marks among the track events displays the quality of the individuals who are here this weekend.”

The professional athletes competing only add to the depth and quality of the event, including global medalists Mikiah Brisco, Brittany Brown, Anna Cockrell, Christian Coleman, Trey Cunningham, Tara Davis, Anna Hall, Candace Hill, Aleia Hobbs, Lolo Jones, Shamier Little, Wil London III, Dalilah Muhammad, Khallifah Rosser, Ashley Spencer, Abby Steiner and Hunter Woodhall.