Razorbacks go down due to FE

[xiphias]

Looking at the UK website (in re SEC Indoor), simply put, Florida won this due to their field event squad and Arkansas' lack there of. 10 Florida scorers to 1 Arkansas in the field events. I really do not care how good you are when it comes to running, if you can score at 30% of the time in the field events, you are not going to succeed. Of course, if Mulvaney ran like he should have, Arkansas would have won. Anyway, I'm kinda curious how Arkansas is going to react at the NCAA's?

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Re: Razorbacks go down due to FE

Sounds like it was a typical SEC grudge match. This is from Arkansas Sports Info:

LEXINGTON, Ky. Senior Alistair Cragg and junior Tyson Gay turned in flawless individual performances, but in the end a bizarre finish still left the University of Arkansas two points short of Florida for the men‚s team title at the 2004 Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The Gators survived a disqualification in the meet‚s final event to edge the Razorbacks 128-126 at the Nutter Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Kentucky. The team race was tight all day long with the lead changing hands several times down the stretch.
The Gators appeared to be in the driver‚s seat leading by two points heading into the final event as the favorite in the 1,600-meter relay. Florida looked to have it sewn up early in the race after Arkansas senior Maurice Bridges tripped up and collided with South Carolina‚s leadoff man in the first leg of the relay. Both runners went down and neither Arkansas nor South Carolina finished the race. The Gators went on to take the tape in the relay to seemingly clinch the crown.
Following the race, however, Florida was disqualified for causing the pile up that ousted the Hogs and Gamecocks. Even with the disqualification, Arkansas couldn‚t take advantage of the opportunity because the Razorbacks did not finish the race. If the Hogs‚ could‚ve continued after the fall, Arkansas would have finished sixth earning three points. Coupled with Florida‚s disqualification that would have vaulted the Razorbacks to an improbable 129-128 victory.
„All we had to do was finish the race and we would‚ve won the meet,‰ Arkansas head coach John McDonnell said. „Even if you drop the baton, you can‚t leave anything to chance. That‚s not the way you would like to win it, but if you are knocked down you might have a chance to win it. What makes you feel bad is that we could have won by jogging the mile relay.
„But there is no use blaming anything. It‚s just one of those things that happened. What‚s done is done. I don‚t want to take anything away from Florida. If none of that would‚ve happened they would have won the meet.‰
It marked only the second time since the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1992 that the Hogs failed to bring home the first-place trophy at the conference indoor meet. Arkansas had won 11 of the last 12 SEC indoor championships including seven consecutive victories. Ironically, the last time Arkansas finished second was to Tennessee on the same track in 1996.

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Re: Razorbacks go down due to FE

I received a call this morning from Jim Kaiser, who was in charge of the timing for the SEC meet (he also ran for the Wildcats years ago).

He wanted to get the word out that his crew had made an error at the meet that has only now been corrected. Due to a camera error, Rickey Harris of Florida was initially given last place in the 60 hurdles, with South Carolina's Fred Townsend assigned 5th.

Those placing have now been reversed (Harris 5th, Townsend 9th). So the final team score is Florida 132, Arkansas 126. South Carolina is still 7th, but their total drops to 35.

So even if Arkansas had finished the 4x4 after falling, they would not have won the team title.