Hogs will take record 25 athletes to NCAA Indoor Championships

No. 1 Arkansas produced a school record 25 entries for the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships, which are being held March 11-14 inside Randal Tyson Track Center.

The Razorbacks will contest 18 events over the three-day meet.

Previously, the highest entry mark for Arkansas has been 15, which occurred twice in recent years (2015 and 2019), which were national championship seasons for the Razorbacks, scoring 63 and 62 points, respectively.

Heading into the NCAA Indoor meet next week, the Hogs maintain a firm hold on the No. 1 position in the weekly USTFCCCA national rating index over Texas A&M, Texas, Georgia and Florida among the top five.

The next group among the top 10 include LSU, BYU, USC, Alabama, and Texas Tech.

Arkansas doubled the number of entries by any other school as Florida, Texas, and Texas A&M have a dozen each. They are followed by Georgia (11), LSU (9), and USC (9).

Among entries by conference the SEC leads with 99, followed by the ACC (40), Mountain Pacific (37), Big 12 (36), and Big 10 (22).

The Razorbacks have four entries in three separate events – 400, Mile and 3,000m. They also have four athletes who are entered in two individual events.

They include Jada Baylark (60|200), Kennedy Thomson (800|Mile), Katie Izzo (3000|5000), and G’Auna Edwards (Long Jump|Pentathlon).

For the second consecutive year Arkansas and Florida are the only two women’s teams to have qualified in both the 4×400 and distance medley relays.

The Razorbacks enter the NCAA Indoor with a collegiate-leading time in the distance medley relay as their 10:53.77 ranks second on the UA all-time list.

In the 4×400 relay, the school record performance of 3:28.50, which broke the 2005 SEC meet record, ranks second collegiately.

In the women’s history of the NCAA Indoor, dating back to 1983, no school has won both relays. The distance medley relay was contested starting in 1994, replacing the 4×800 relay. In 1984, Tennessee claimed the 4×400 as well as the 4×800 relay.

This marks the 21st consecutive year the Razorbacks have qualified an athlete in the pole vault and the eighth straight season Arkansas qualified multiple athletes in the pole vault.

In the past 15 years, the Razorbacks have advanced more than one vaulter into the NCAA Indoor on 14 occasions.