Ben Weisel
Jan 17, 20204 min
On Friday, Arkansas will host a collection of talented athletes at their home meet. For many, this is their first track race of the year. From transfers and freshmen making their debuts, to All-American candidates taking the track for the first time in 2020, the Arkansas Invitational has plenty of intrigue, specifically within the Arkansas program (go figure).
Arkansas will likely have one of the top DMR teams in the country this year with Carina Viljoen, Lauren Gregory, and a slew of other talented individuals leading the way. However, one important (and often overlooked) part of this team is Alex Byrnes who was on the relay team that finished 5th at NCAA's last year. She ran 2:06 to finish 5th at the SEC Indoor Championships last winter and just missed qualifying for Indoor Nationals by a second in 2019. She will undoubtedly be looking to not miss out again this year.
Even if she doesn’t qualify, any improvement from last year will help Arkansas. If she can continue to better her performances from last year, then the Razorbacks have an even better chance at taking home a DMR title. With Arkansas sustaining some significant losses from last year’s title team in numerous events, they will need some new point scorers to step up, and Byrnes is a great candidate to do just that.
The former Furman Paladin has found her way to Fayetteville and will be making her Razorback debut after transferring this past winter. Gear is a versatile runner who, just this past fall, finished 78th at the NCAA XC Championships. However, she also owns a PR of 2:07 in the 800 meters.
Thought that was it? Think again. She also qualified for the Outdoor National Championships in the steeplechase last spring and owns a PR of 9:52 in the event.
Simply put, Gear can do it all. She will be an immensely useful runner for the Razorbacks in many different events this winter and spring. Racing in the 1000 meters will give us an interesting glimpse at where her speed is at. We just mentioned the quality of Arkansas’ DMR team and Gear gives them yet another great option.
With many of the Razorbacks' top runners looking to run in individual events, the former Paladin gives them another athlete who could run the 800 or 1200 leg of the relay while keeping the team in title contention. This could be invaluable for Arkansas as they look to keep their top runners fresh for their individual races.
The newest Arkansas star, Katie Izzo, enters this Friday with a 4:45 PR in the mile which will most likely be broken given her recent success. After her stunning performance in the 5k at Boston University, Izzo is one of the favorites to take home the 5k or 3k title this winter. In order to do so, she will need show that she has enough speed to hold off the likes of Dani Jones, Alicia Monson, and Weini Kelati. This race against some other top Razorbacks will give her a great opportunity to keep her hot streak going and allow her to pick up a new PR.
Carina Viljoen is also entered and is coming off of a solid performance at Boston University where she ran a 9:12 in the 3000 meters. This week, she moves to her main event (the mile), where she owns a PR of 4:33. She was 5th last winner at NCAA’s and is a favorite to score big points for Arkansas in the mile once again this year.
Even though Izzo has been unbelievable all year, this is Viljoen’s event, and it will be fascinating to see who comes out on top this Friday.
Some other names to watch are Caitlin Klopfer of Tulsa and Abby Gray of Arkansas. Klopfer is more of a 10k specialist who ran 33:51 last spring and finished 67th at NCAA’s this past fall. She is dropping down in distance, but has run well this year.
Gray, on the other hand, hasn’t run on the track since 2018. She did, however, have a respectable cross country season this past fall. The Razorback does hold a 4:25 PR in the 1500 meters, so if she is healthy and in shape, we could see her run near/around the 4:40 to 4:43 this Friday.
Tulsa’s Isaac Akers and Scott Beattie are coming off of a cross country season where Tulsa was the biggest story. They were both top 100 finishers at the NCAA XC Championships this past fall. Akers holds a 4:13 PR, but after his past cross country season, it would not be surprising to see him lower that mark significantly. Likewise, Beattie should lower his 4:09 PR after a strong fall season.
Matt Young and Kieran Taylor of Arkansas are also two other names to watch. Taylor has yet to run a mile during indoors, but he does own a 1:48 PR and could be a factor in his mile debut. Young, a 28:56 10k runner, will be dropping down in distance to compete in the mile this Friday. He does have a 3:49 1500 meter PR and had a solid fall where he was 7th at the SEC XC Championships. His mile PR is 4:09, but it would not be surprising to see that drop after this race.
Another name to watch is Alex Maier who is making his track debut for Oklahoma State. The true freshman ran 4:09 in the 1600 meters as a high school senior and was one of the bright spots for an Oklahoma State lineup underwhelmed a bit this past fall. It will be interesting to see how he reacts in his first collegiate track race and where his fitness is at after cross country season.
Of course, the biggest name of them is all is Cameron Griffith, the dynamic Arkansas distance talent who own a 3:39 1500 meter PR while also boasting a 7:49 personal best in the 3000 meters. After running 3:59 for the mile last winter, Griffith will likely be aiming to bring that time down even further and make himself a legitimate contender to conference rival Waleed Suliman at SEC's.