FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas men’s cross country team begins its 2014 campaign in the Sooner State, as the Razorbacks compete in the 2014 Hurricane Cross Country Festival. The race is scheduled to start for 8 a.m.
Arkansas will compete against some of the area’s top teams in the Saturday morning race, as the meet will feature Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Louisiana-Monroe, Wichita State and host-school Tulsa.
Head coach Chris Bucknam will spend nine runners to the meet, as Gabe Gonzalez, Cale Wallace, Aidan Swain, Christian Heymsfield, Noah Findlay, Alex George, Ethan Moehn, Austen Dalquist and Andrew Pisechko will represent the Razorbacks.
George, Moehn, Dalquist and Pisechko will be making their Arkansas cross country debut.
The men’s cross country team is coming off a 2013 season in which they finished 12th at the NCAA Championships and won the program’s fourth straight Southeastern Conference cross country title. The 2013 SEC title was also the 21st overall team championship in cross country for Arkansas.
The Razorbacks have been tabbed as the No. 13 team in the land by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) preseason poll. In other preseason releases, Arkansas is the predicted favorites in the SEC team race and the top-ranked team in the South Central region.
The Razorbacks return 2013 NCAA All-American Stanley Kebenei for his senior season. The Nakura, Kenya native posted the highest-finish over an Arkansas runner at the 2013 NCAA Championship, as he completed the 10k course in 30:10.10. Redshirt junior Gabe Gonzalez, also returns for the Razorbacks. The Springdale, Ark., native earned his second NCAA All-Region accolade last season and earned All-SEC second team honors with his 10th-place finish at the 2013 SEC Championships.
For more information on Arkansas men’s cross country, follow @RazorbackMCC on Twitter.