FAYETTEVILLE — This year's Arkansas Invitational is not your run-of-the-mill rust buster.
With 11 teams, the Razorbacks’ first home track meet of the indoor season has a little bigger field than most this time of year.
Field events at Randal Tyson Track Center begin Friday at noon with the men’s shot put, and running events commence with qualifying in the 60-meter hurdles at 12:45 p.m. The meet is scheduled to conclude with the women’s 1,600-meter relay at 8:05 p.m.
Among the visiting teams are Texas and Oklahoma State, which should provide an early test to Arkansas in the sprint and distance events, respectively.
“Anytime you’ve got good competition, I think that just brings the best out of the good guys, in particular,” Arkansas men’s assistant coach Doug Case said.
The Longhorns are in their first year in the SEC and are coached by former Arkansas national champion triple jumper Edrick Floreal (1988-90). He has coached a pair of team national champions at Texas, winning indoors with the men in 2022 and outdoors with the women in 2023.
“It does help…bringing a school like Texas in here,” Case said. “You’ve got to be on your game a little bit because it’s good competition. Even though it’s early for us, it’s a good meet with great competition and we’re going to see what the tone is like and see how these guys compete.”
Expectations are high for both of the Razorbacks’ programs that carry long championship streaks into the indoor season. Arkansas’ women have won the past 10 SEC indoor championships and the men have won five in a row.
The women are two-time reigning national champions. Arkansas’ men finished second at the NCAA meet last year after winning the indoor title in 2023.
Familiarity is higher on the women’s side, where returners Rachel Glenn and Kaylyn Brown were named to the preseason watch list for The Bowerman earlier this month. Glenn is scheduled to compete in the 60 hurdles qualifier at 1:35 p.m. and in the 300 at 5:45 p.m., and Brown is scheduled to run the 200 at 6:15 p.m.
Brown and Glenn will compete for the first time since the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Brown won a gold medal in the women’s 1,600 relay and a silver in the mixed 1,600 relay.
Other Olympians expected to compete Friday are Sanu Jallow-Lockhart in the 600 at 4:50 p.m. and Isabella Whittaker in the 800 at 5:35 p.m. Whittaker, who finished fifth behind four Razorbacks in the 400 at last year’s NCAA outdoor meet, transferred to Arkansas from Penn last summer.
Anna Podojil, a three-time soccer All-American at Arkansas from 2019-23, will also make her track debut in the 600. She is expected to race in the 400 or 800 this year, but like many athletes will be running in an off event to open the season.
Events like the 300, 600 and 1,000 are not run at championship meets.
“Most of the young ladies are racing above their regular distance, or in some cases a little lower,” Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson said. “Basically we want to see where they’re at in relation to practice. We know where they’re at from a practice standpoint. Now we want to see how well they’re going to compete and execute.”
On the men’s side, Iowa transfer Rivaldo Marshall is on the watch list for The Bowerman. Marshall, the reigning 800 indoor champion, is scheduled to run the 600 at 4:30 p.m.
“He is a very hard worker,” Case said. “He’s very talented. I just hope he can have a good season like I think he can, and if he does, he’ll be in the race for [The Bowerman].”
The Razorbacks’ men lost a core of athletes from last year’s team to the professional ranks or graduation, meaning Friday will be the first experience in an Arkansas uniform for many who take the track.
“We have 30 new guys on the team this season,” Case said, “so it’s going to be a bit of a surprise to the coaching staff as we figure out where these guys belong in certain events in some cases, and see what their competitive attitude is like.”
Also making their debut in Arkansas colors Friday will be assistant coaches Rob Jarvis and Marc Burns. Jarvis coaches the men’s multi events and jumps, and Burns was hired last week to coach the women’s distance runners and arrived in Fayetteville on Monday.
“There’s no better way than just diving right in, right?” Burns said. “We’ll get to know each other really fast this way.”
2025 Arkansas Invitational
WHEN Friday beginning at noon
WHERE Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville
TV SEC Network+
SCORES FlashResults.com
PARTICIPATING TEAMS Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma State, Tulsa, North Texas, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Arkansas-Little Rock, Central Arkansas, Oral Roberts, John Brown (NAIA), Coffeyville Community College (NJCAA)
NOTABLE Arkansas sprinter Jordan Anthony, a receiver on the Razorbacks’ football team, is not scheduled to compete Friday. He is expected to make his season debut at the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 31-Feb. 1….Ainsley Erzen, a midfielder for the Arkansas soccer team, is scheduled to run the 1,000….Yaseen Abdalla, a Tennessee transfer, will not run. Abdalla followed a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country meet in November with a pair of program records in the 3,000 and 5,000 at a meet in Boston in December….Rosey Effiong, a 13-time All-American, will run the 600 unattached. Effiong, who finished the indoor national meet third in the 400, only has outdoor eligibility remaining with the Razorbacks. She was fourth in the 400 and was part of Arkansas’ record-setting 1,600 relay team at the NCAA outdoor meet last year.
