Hogs score 19 points in 10K at SEC Outdoors
Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008
Shawn Forrest, James Strang and Peter Kosgei picked up 19 points in the 10, 000 meters for Arkansas Razorback track and field on Day 2 of the SEC Championships.
The Hogs are second in the team race with 19 points after two complete days of competition. Auburn leads it with 21 points.
"It was hard to beat [Alabama harrier ] Tyson David," McDonnell said. "Our top two guys ran in their flats. They didn't wear spikes so their legs wouldn't be tired for the 5, 000 meters. That hurt them a little bit at the end of the race. They gave [David ] a good run. Nineteen points is more than I was hoping for. We had a very good day. Hopefully this will set the trend for the rest of the meet."
The Arkansas trio pushed the pace from the get-go, in hopes to leave the rest of the pack behind. The plan worked accordingly, except for Tyson David, who went with the Hogs.
Forrest, Strang and David ran the entire race as a pack until the last two laps. Kosgei held strong in fourth position and cruised through. David, with a strong kick, passed Forrest with 200 meters to go and showed great speed as he took the tape in a new meet record time of 28: 23. 01, breaking former Hog Alistair Cragg's record of 28: 42. 73.
Forrest finished second, earning his sixth All-SEC honor, with a personal and season best 28: 24. 44. Strang was third with a clocking of 28: 31. 33. Kosgei was fourth with an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 29: 25. 14.
"We thought with the pace we set, we would break [Tyson David ]," Forrest said. "Hats off to him, he has a great kick and a good finish. That was a fast race."
"I'm thrilled with the 2-3-4 finish," Strang said. "We all had the same mentality - this one was for Coach [McDonnell ]. Shawn did a majority of the work. I tried to help out when I could. I knew he wanted this race really badly so I wasn't going to challenge him."
In the prelims, Alex McClary advanced to Sunday's 800-meter finals while J-Mee Samuels also advanced in the 200-meter prelims.
McClary, running in Heat 2, clocked a time of 1: 49. 99 to earn a third-place finish in his heat. He finished seventh overall and advanced on his time.
Samuels won his heat of the 200 meters. Running into a strong headwind, he clocked a somewhat slow time of 21. 24 but the wind played more of a factor than Samuels thought it would. He is the fifth-fastest runner coming out of the prelims.
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