THE BURDEN

The Razorback suffered early season defeats. They fell short to Division Il Abilene Christian twice at the Cowboy Jamboree and the Chile Pepper Invitational. At the NCAA cross country championships, the top five Hogs would have to put together a good race on the same day – a feat that they had not accomplished all year. Despite being the ranked third for most of the year, the Hogs were ready for the task at hand but would have to battle competition from Colorado and Providence and bitter winds and falling snow with the wind chill nearing minus 20 degrees at race time. Led by senior James Karanu, the Razorbacks claimed the title by having four runners in the top 20 with all four finishing within fifteen seconds of each other. Karanu led the Razorbacks with an 11th-place finish (30:42) with Sharif Karie only two spots behind him in 13th (30:45), Murray Link finished 16th (30:47) and Daniel Lincoln finished 24th (30:56). Rounding out the Razorbacks’ scorers was Ryan Travis who finished 34th (31:02).

The Hogs then headed to Lexington, Ky, looking for their 21st indoor conference championship and 15th consecutive SEC Championship at the 2001 SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships, the distance squad scored 24 points in the 3,000-meter run moving Arkansas into second. Karie was 2nd (8:03), Link 3rd (8:06) and Lincoln 4th (8:07), Travis 5th (8:13) and Alan Dunleavy 8th (8:25). The Hogs also scored a combined 39 points in the 5,000-meter run and the mile. Kenny Evans claimed his fourth-consecutive conference indoor high jump title. The Razorbacks took the lead and never looked back when the trio of Dirk Heinze, Andy Beasley and Chris Mulvaney scored nine points in the 800m.

At day one of the 2001 NCAA Indoor National Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center, the Hogs sat in fourth-place after gaining eight points with second place in the distance medley relay. The Razorbacks went into day two with high expectations but fell short of grabbing another national tide and finished third. Heinz was second in the 800m with an excellent with a time of 1:45.95. Lincoln was seventh in the 5,000m. Evans ended his brilliant indoor career with a third place showing of 7’5’ in the high jump. He actually tied for the highest height, but had more misses at earlier heights. For the first time since the 1981, the Hogs did not claim an individual national champion. The top of the team standings was tight with four points separating the Top 4, the Hogs finished third,

At the SEC outdoor championship, Tennessee took the team title scoring 153 points

Arkansas put 5 runners in the top 15 and scored 31 points led by Cragg (second) and Lincoln (third) as the Hogs won their 29th consecutive conference cross country championship. The hHgs entered the NCAA meet ranked number two in the country but came up short finishing sixth. Cragg was the runner up, Lincoln 14th and Sandfort 31st.

At the Boston Indoor Games, Cragg broke the 3,000m collegiate record with a time of 7:45.22. Thomas set a new school record of 7.69 in the 60-meter hurdles. Ahmed Carroll also set a new UA record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.67. At the 2003 SEC Indoor, the Razorbacks topped the field with 120 points followed by Florida with 90.5. Cragg was the top-scoring individual in the meet with two individual titles. The Razorbacks swept the next three spots in the 3,000m behind Cragg’s 7:58. Lincoln and Kimeli came second and third both in 7:59. Arkansas put up 29 points in the 5,000m, led by the winner Lincoln and Jason Sandfort in third. Robbie Stevens was Arkansas’s top finisher in third place in the 800mm with a time of 1:48.68. Mulvaney was fourth with 1:48.93. Four Hogs tallied 22 points in the mile. Cragg won and Mulvaney and Hatch were fourth and fifth. The triple jumpers came through with 13 points as Uudmae leaped 53’3.50” to finish second. Smith came in fourth

The 2003 NCAA Indoor Championship in Fayetteville, the Hogs scored 54 points to beat Auburn’s 30 points. Cragg successfully defended his title in the 5,000m with a new UA school record time of 13:26. Lincoln finished in sixth with a time of 13:49.
In the 60-meter hurdles, Thomas was fourth, breaking his own UA record, with a time of 7.64. Mulvaney captured the title in the mile run with a time of 4:05. Uudmae and Smith finished fifth and seventh in the triple jump. Cragg was the winner in the 3,000 and Lincoln third, securing the national championship with 54 points.

At the SEC Outdoor Championships. The Hogs reclaimed the crown from Tennessee, with 149 points to 111 points. By winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase and taking runner-up honors in the 5,000 and 10,000m, Lincoln scored a meet high 26 points. The Razorbacks dominated as all but six of the 27 UA athletes scored. Cragg won the 10,000m, Lincoln was second, Kimeli sixth and Bordes seventh. Lincoln captured his third-consecutive SEC steeplechase. Washington finished in third place in the long jump (25’3.50”), while Smith was right behind in fourth (25’0.75”). Cragg won the 5,000m ahead of Lincoln in second, Kimeli in fifth and Sandfort in sixth. Mulvaney successfully defended his 1,500m title with a season-best time of 3:42.30. Ahmed was right behind in second with 3:42.72. Taylor fifth, Grundy seventh and Hatch eight. Carroll was 4th in the 100m and third in the 200m. Stevens came in a very close second place in the 800m with a career-best time of 1:46.6.

Hogs prevailed to claim their 38th national championship with 59 points over Auburn’s
50. The 2003 title marked their 10th outdoor title and the first outdoor crown since
eight-consecutive titles in 1992-99. Lincoln captured the 10,000-meter title in a school-record time, with Cragg right behind in second. The next night Lincoln defended his 3,000-meter steeplechase title with a time of 8:26.65. Carroll scored in the 200m and became the first football letterman since Clyde Scott in 1948 to score points in a NCAA outdoor meet. Chris Mulvaney repeated as runner up in the 1,500m and Stevens was third in the 800m. Cragg ended the NCAA winning campaign with a victory in the 5,000m

THE Razorbacks dominated the SEC cross country championships and scored 23 points placing five in the top 9. The winner was Josephat Boit followed by Shawn Forest in second, Marc Rodrigues in fourth, Jason Sandfort in seventh and Matt Gunn in 9th. Luis Bordes was 14th. At the NCAA meet, the Hogs were led by Boit’s third place and finished third in the team race with 202 points. Winners were Colorado with 90 points with a 4 point margin over Wisconsin.

The early indoor season was all about Wallace Spearmon. He opened with a 46.16 in his debut at the 400m. He set school records of 20.36, 20.35, 20.11 and 20.10 during the season and won the SEC and NCAA titles in the process. The DMR team of Perkins, Gaston, Hatch and Ahmed ran 9:29.25, the fourth fastest time in collegiate history. There was bad news however. Tyson Gay fell after the finish of the Tyson Invitational 60m. He broke the school record with a 6.55 clocking but the resulting injury ruled him out for the championship season. Nonetheless, the Hogs won the SEC championship in dominating fashion over Florida 155 to 92. In addition to Spearmon in the 200m, there were victories for Kosgei in the 3,000m and 5,000m, Ahmed in the mile, Uudmae in the triple jump and the distance medley relay. The Hogs were third and fourth in the high jump. The Hogs dominated distance events and scored 25 points in the 3,000, 24 points in the 5,000m, 18 in the mile and 14 in the 800m.

At the NCAA meet on their own track, the Hogs won their 40 NCAA team championship and 18th indoor. The Hogs overcame the absence of Gay and the disqualification of the Distance Medley Relay team. Arkansas anchor Ahmed held off the hard closing Michigan runner for the win by .03 seconds (9:30.79 to 9:30.82) but was deemed to have impeded the runner up and the Hogs were disqualified. Spearmon ran 20.11 in the prelims and 20.10 in the 2000m final. Brown was fifth with 20:52. Gaston broke a 13 year old school record with a time of 45.29 for second in the 400m. Hatch was also a runner up in the 800m. Uudmae was fourth in the triple jump.

Hogs were impressive in the early outdoor season also, Boit and Kosgei broke the. School record over 10,000m with 28:07.27 and 28:08.97 at Stanford. Spearmon broke the school record with a World leading 19.97. Brown broke the school record in the Javelin with a 248’5”. At the SEC, Kosgei became the latest UA athlete to win the high point trophy. He had victories in the Steeplechase and 5,000m and was third in the 1,500m. Boit claimed victory in the 10,000m. Perkins finished second in the 1,500m as the Razorbacks scored 16 points. Gay and Spearmon were second and fourth in the 100m and third and second in the 200m. The Hogs racked up 31 points in the 5,000m and Uudmae won the triple jump. Arkansas won its 21st conference title and its 12th SEC title with a 169 to 116 won over Florida.

There was some bad news for the razorbacks at the regional meet, Tyson Gay false. Started and was disqualified from the NCAA meet two weeks later. He did qualify for the 200 however. At the NCAA meet, Kosgei and Boit finished third and sixth to open the scoring. Kosgei also was runner up in the steeplechase. Perkins was fourth in the 1,500m. Uudmae finished fifth in the triple jump. Gay ran 19.93 in the prelims, a school record and made Arkansas the first school to have two concurrent sub 20 athletes. Spearmon returned the favor in the final winning in 19.91 and reclaiming the school record, Brown was eight. These three combined with Grant for the schools first ever 4 x 100 relay title. The Hogs tallied 60 points to win their 12th outdoor nationals and 41st NCAA title.

Seth Summerside led the Hogs at the SEC cross country championships with a runner up finish. The Hogs grabbed four of the top 5 positions and had five in the top 7 for a team total of 21 points to second placed Florida’s 73 points. At the NCAA meet, Peter Kosgei was the top razorback in eight and he paced Arkansas to fifth. Seth Summerside was the second finisher in 41st position

At the SEC indoors the Hogs had one individual champion, Nkosinza Balumbu in the triple jump. There were four runners up, however, Bailey in the long jump, Perkins in the mile,Tyler Hill in the 5,000 and the Distance Medley relay. Bailey also finished third in the high jump for a combined 14 points. Scott McPherson contributed a bronze in the 3,000m. Kosgei, the favorite was fourth. Roe was third in the 800m. Stewart was third in the triple jump. The Hogs scored 126 points to win another SEC title. At the NCAA, Kosgei finished second in the 5,000m in 13;39.88, the third best time in school history. Kosgei later finished eight in the 3,000m. Balumbu finished third in the triple jump. The Hogs scored 22 points and were seventh in the team race.

Outdoor SEC and the Hogs had just one individual champion, Balumbu in the triple jump. The Hogs had five runners up finishes, Kosgei in the 10,000m and 5,000m, Bailey in the long jump, Perkins in the 1,500m. Bailey was also third in the high jump. The Razorbacks scored 100 points to finish third behind the winners Tennessee with 129.5 points.There were no highlights at the NCAA outdoor meet. Balumbu finished sixth to score a solitary three points as the Hogs ended the meet in an unfamiliar 63rd position