Category: Other Sports

Two Hogs selected for Arnold Palmer Cup

For only the second year in school history, Arkansas has both a men’s golfer and women’s golfer at the Arnold Palmer Cup international competition.

Maria José Marin and Jacob Skov Oleson, both of the Arkansas golf programs, were chosen to play at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup on Tuesday.

Oleson, a graduate senior on the Razorbacks’ men’s golf team, will play for Team Denmark in the event from July 5-7 in Ireland. Oleson is ranked as the No. 12 individual men’s golfer in Division I and is on pace to set a school record for lowest single-season scoring average.

Oleson ishas also improved by 225 spots in the World Amateur Golf Rankings over the last nine months. In August, he was No. 336. Now, he is No. 111.

José Marin, a Colombian native, will play for Team International on the women’s side. She is in the midst of her first collegiate season with the Razorbacks and is the sixth Arkansas women’s golfer to be selected to the Arnold Palmer Cup.

The event is a Ryder Cup-type of competition that features collegiate golfers from across the world. The United States has won 14 of the 27 previous cups.

The 2024 dual selection marks the second time both an Arkansas women’s and an Arkansas men’s golfer have been chosen. In 2018, Alvaro Ortiz and Maria Fassi, both Mexican, played for Team International while Alana Uriell and Dylan Kim both played for Team USA.

Arkansas gymnastics finishes 7th at at NCAA Championships

The Hogs’ run wasn’t quite a Cinderella story, but few thought Arkansas would end up where they ended up this year. Impressive.

The Arkansas gymnastics team was knocked out of the NCAA Championships on Thursday, finishing fourth in their semifinal round and seventh overall.

The appearance in the Championships was the program’s first since 2018. Their score of 196.475 was behind Stanford’s 197.075 for third place, California’s 197.7125 for second and LSU’s 198.1125 for first. The Tigers’ score is second highest ever in the Championships and the Tigers and Golden Bears advanced to the final round.

Arkansas, the lowest-seeded team of the eight in the Championships, struggled from the beginning. The 196.475 score was the team’s third lowest all year.

The Razorbacks had one gymnast finish on the podium. Reese Drotar scored the team’s only 9.9 or higher of the meet, earning a 9.925 score on the uneven bars, tying for first in the event.

Coach Jordyn Wieber said the Razorbacks gave it all they had in every gymnasts first NCAA Championships.

“First of all, I’m really proud of the team,” Wieber said. “It’s been an incredible year with so many highlights and great moments. Just getting to this competition was an incredible accomplishment.”

How big is Arkansas gymnastics now? The New York Times came knocking

Wieber’s star power helped, certainly, but she has the Hogs one of the best programs in the country.

Gymnastics is not the first – or second or third or even fourth – sport brought to mind traitionally when one thinks of Arkansas athletics.

Jordyn Wieber and her Razorbacks are changing that, year by year.

Arkansas hired the former gold medalist as gymnastics head coach in 2020. Wieber had been only a volunteer assistant before athletic director Hunter Yurachek gave her the keys to the program. Now, Arkansas is in the NCAA Gymnastic Championships.

The Hogs will go against No. 2-seed LSU, No. 3-seed California and No. 8-seed Stanford in one semifinal pool starting Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Oklahoma, Florida, Utah and Alabama are in the other semifinal. The top two teams in each semi advance to the four-team final.

Such an outcome for Arkansas was hard to imagine even three years. Instead, Arkansas reached the vaunted “198” score this season and ended up finishing the regular year with their four highest scores in program history.

Arkansas’ appearances in the NCAA Championships is the school’s ninth overall, but that number is misleading. In this day and age, only eight teams advance that far. In the Razorbacks’ previous eight appearances, 12 teams made the Championships.

The 28-year-old coach brought her team that far because keeping them focused, but unpressured. She won’t change heading into Thursday.

“I know that they know this is a big deal and I don’t really need to say that for them to know it,” Wieber said. “What they need from me, and this has honestly been consistent messaging all season, is don’t build up any singular moment.”

Hogs bound for first NCAA Championships since 2018

Doing it in front Bud Walton Arena’s home crowd was a blast.

From 10-seed to top three, the Arkansas gymnastics team found themselves in a rare place Saturday night.

The Razorbacks are bound for the NCAA Championships after a 197.825, a school record in an NCAA Regional, scored inside Bud Walton Arena. LSU won the Regional and the two will make up a quarter of the Championships, which will be held April 18-20.

Arkansas had not made it to the Championships since 2018, before Jordyn Wieber became coach.

“This is what I came here to do, obviously,” Wieber said. “We wanted to get the program to this level. I believed in it every step of the way. First time in this format with only eight teams going to nationals. I’m really, really proud.”

Arkansas finished just ahead of third-place Kentucky (197.475) and Minnesota (197.4). Lauren Williams’ 9.925 score in the floor exercise was the clinching event. Frankie Price followed with a 9.9 to close things out and send the home crowd roaring.

Eighth-ranked Hogs golf takes tournament in Oklahoma

The No. 8 Hogs won their third tournament of the year and now ready for the SEC Championships.

The eighth-ranked Arkansas women’s golf team kept chugging away over the weekend, picking up a third tournament win of the year in Oklahoma.

Razorbacks junior Kendall Todd led Arkansas to a 16-over 856 at The Bruzzy in Ardmore. The score was 10 strokes better than second-place Notre Dame and 17 better than third-place Notre Dame. Todd was excellent, shooting even-par 70s in the final two rounds after an opening round 71 to finish in a tie for second individually.

Kajal Mistry joined her in the top as she tied Oklahoma junior Reagan Chaney with 2-over par. Miriam Ayora’s 6-over and Reagan Zibilski’s 8-over also put them in the top 20 while not other school had more than players finish 10-over or better.

The event was the last one of the regular season for the Hogs, who are set to golf in the SEC Championships in Florida from April 12-16.

Arkansas’ Bucknam and Johnson each win SEC Coach of the Year honors

Chris Bucknam is in the midst of a legendary run. Chris Johnson is just starting his.

Chris Johnson is in his first year on the job. Chris Bucknam is in his 16th.

On Wednesday, the brand-new Arkansas women’s track-and-field coach and the veteran Arkansas men’s track-and-field coach, shared an honor. They were each named SEC Indoor Coach of the Year.

Johnson was an assistant under former coach Lance Harter before getting the promotion. Harter thought so highly of Johnson that the latter was named coach-in-waiting. This academic year, he took over and his first SEC Championships – the indoors – Johnson led Arkansas to its 10th straight such crown.

And it wasn’t close. Arkansas finished the meet with 131 points, 51 more than the second-place team, and with having generated points in 14 of the 15 events on the slate.

Bucknam led the men’s team to a fifth straight SEC Indoor title, a number which matches how many straight years he has been named league’s Indoor Coach of the Year. This year’s honor marks the 12th time he has earned the award in 16 years at the helm. Bucknam has also won 11 such honors in cross country and eight in the track-and-field outdoor season.

Arkansas athletes pick up four medals in World Indoor Championships.

The World Indoor Championships are no joke and these Hogs showed out.

Tara Davis-Woodhall, Nikki Hitlz, Chris Bailey and Alexis Holmes – all current or former Arkansas track-and-field stars – each medaled over the weekend at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Davis-Woodhall captured gold while the other three each landed a silver medal. She became the first American winner of the long jump since 2016 as she leaped 23-2.5 to capture the gold.

Hiltz won silver medal in the 1,500-meter run. Her time of 4:02.32 made her the first American to ever win silver in the event. She is the first American to medal in the event at all since 2003 when Regina Jacobs won gold.

Chris Bailey ran the anchor leg for the men’s 4×400 relay team to win silver with his compatriots and Alexis Holmes did the same for the women’s 4×400 relay team. The men ran in 3:02.60, a half-step behind Belgium, which ran a 3:02.54. The women finished in 3:25.34 behind Netherlands’ 3:25.07.

All four athletes train in Fayetteville.

Column: For 24 hours the Arkansas athletic department was the most dominant in the country.

Has Arkansas athletic ever had a more dominant 24 hours than what we saw between Friday and Saturday night?

The 2023-24 athletic season has not been kind to Arkansas fans.

Arkansas football failed to make a bowl game for the first time since Coach Sam Pittman came to Arkansas. To add insult to injury, stars like KJ Jefferson, Raheim “Rocket” Sanders, and Chris “Pooh” Paul all left the program, two for SEC foes.

Arkansas Basketball had national championship hopes after beating currently No. 3 ranked Purdue in the preseason and knocking off No. 8 Duke in the ACC/SEC challenge. But the Hogs fell below .500 in conference play for the first time in the Musselman era and now need a miracle to make the NCAA Tournament.

Until this weekend, Arkansas fans haven’t had much to be happy about this athletic year, but Friday night sparked 24 hours of record-breaking and dominant performances across all sports.

It all started with Arkansas baseball’s game against Oregon State. Despite being pulled after just one Inning against James Madison, Lefty Hagen Smith pitched one of the best games anyone in Hog uniform has ever pitched. Smith stuck out 17 of 18 batters in a lineup that could rival any in the country. The Hogs went on to beat the Beavers 5-4.

Not to be outdone by their male counterparts, the other Diamond Hogs wanted to create history of their own. Left-hander Robyn Herron saw Smith’s performance Friday night and said, “Eh, I can do better than that,” and boy, if she didn’t, she came very close. Herron Pitched a no-hitter for the second time in Arkansas history, beating Illinois State 7-0. She struck out 11 of the 21 batters she faced.

Just because the season has been disappointing for the Hardwood Hogs doesn’t mean they can’t have a day of their own. Khalif Battle went off yesterday in Arkansas’ 88-73 win over Mizzou. The transfer from Temple scored a whopping 42 points. The performance is good for the second-highest single-game point total this century, behind only Rotnei Clarke’s record of 51 points in 2009.

Last but certainly not least, the GymBacks beat No. 6 Kentucky 197.400 to 197.150. The win is against the highest-ranked team Arkansas has beaten since 2016. Their score of 197.400 is also good for tying the 4th highest score ever for the GymBacks.

You can also add in the fact that Arkansas Track and Field swept the SEC Indoor Championships, but that’s just the norm for the most dominant track and field program in the country.

It would be hard to find another 24-hour period where the Arkansas athletic department was so dominant across multiple sports, and it couldn’t have come soon enough for Arkansas fans.

Arkansas golfer picks up third SEC honor…in her fourth tournament ever

In four tournaments, José Marin has been named league’s best frosh three times. That’s unreal, Stacy-Lewis territory.

Maria José Marin may just have a future in this sport called golf, eh?

José Marin, a freshman on the Arkansas women’s golf team, won her third SEC Freshman Golfer of the Week award on Wednesday. Impressive. What makes it wild, though, is that José Marin has played in only four tournaments in her entire collegiate career.

In other words, three out of every four weeks, no first-year golfer in the entire conference is outplaying José Marin. And, by the way, the three Freshman Golfer of the Week honors are the most by a Razorbacks golfer since someone named Stacy Lewis – only the best to ever do it in Fayetteville – won three in 2007-08.

José Marin picked up this week’s award after a dynamite showing at the Purdue Puerto Rico Classic. She shot a 1-under 215 in the three rounds, finishing in a tie for 16th out of the 90 golfers in the tournament. Her final round 67 tied a career best.

Arkansas won the tournament as a team after firing the lowest score of the weeked on the final day, a 276, which was the 12th lowest team round in school history.

José Marin and the Razorbacks are back at things Feb. 18-20 at the Moon Golf Invitational hosted by Louisville.

Arkansas track-and-field ranked nation’s new No. 1

Arkansas’ impressive showing at the Razorbacks Invitational provided the oomph to lift the Hogs over Florida for the top spot.

The Arkansas women’s track-and-field team is the best in the country.

Literally.

A dynamite weekend at the Razorback Invitational lifted Arkansas to top ranking in the nation USTFCCCA women’s national rating index. They sat No. 2 last week, but after dominating their home meet, the Hogs jumped SEC foe Florida for the top spot.

Amber Anning ran the 10th-fastest collegiate 400-meter dash in American history over the weekend clocking a 50.56 time. Later, she ran the lap in 51.05 as part of 10th best 1,600-meter relay time in world history when the Hogs finished the mile (or so) in 3:25.59. To top things, she broke the British 200-meter record with a 22.60 sprint.

After Florida were Oregon, USC, Illinois, Texas A&M, Brigham Young, Washington, Georgia and Oklahoma State in the Top 10.

Other SEC schools ranked are Ole Miss (11th), LSU (12th), Alabama (14th), South Carolina (15th), Kentucky (16th) and Tennessee (17th).

Arkansas is back in action February 9-10 at the Randal Tyson Track Center for the Tyson Invitational.