Arkansas men, Villanova women grab NCAA titles

The word dynasty best describes the University of Arkansas men's cross country team, which recently ran away with its record ninth NCAA national championship. The Razorbacks also claimed the most All-Americans with four runners finishing in the top 30 at the championship meet held on Nov. 23 in Lawrence, Kansas. Arkansas managed these feats without its No. 1 runner, Michael Power, who suffered an exercise-induced asthma attack and collapsed less than a mile from the finish line.

"The key to our victory was our depth," Arkansas head coach John McDonnell said. "I don't think anyone else could have lost their number one runner during the race and won. In fact, if you had told me before the race that Michael Power wouldn't finish, I would not have expected to beat Stanford." Although Power, who has asthma related to an allergy involving dust, was unable to finish the race, he did not require medical attention after the championship, according to Arkansas Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information Rick Schaeffer.

The Razorbacks pulled out the big victory by scoring 97 points, beating two-time defending national champion Stanford by 17 points. Colorado (158), Michigan (183) and Oregon (233) rounded out the top five. Colorado's Adam Goucher won the individual crown, defeating Arizona's Abdi Abdirahman by 23 seconds. "Every national championship is special in its own right. This one was particularly satisfying," McDonnell said. "Stanford beat us in 1996 and no doubt had the better team. Last year we thought we had the better team. We ran well but made some tactical errors and they beat us by three points."

Kaley leads the Way

McDonnell said this year Stanford looked better on paper than his team. "We knew it would be close," he said. "We had some guys who really picked up the slack." Sean Kaley was the first top Razorback to cross the finish line. He placed fifth with a time of 30:12.10. Kaley along with Andrew Begley, Matt Kerr and Seneca Lassiter earned All-American honors at the race.

Usually the No. 5 runner, Begley was the second Razorback across the finish line in fourth place among team runners with a time of 30:46.60. Kerr crossed the line in 30:54.30 to finish 16th. Lassiter (31:01.80) was 22nd and Dailey (31:24.20) was 40th. Sophomore Eric Zack finished in 32:29.60.

The title was the 31st for the Arkansas cross country and track programs under McDonnell. "We have won four national triple crowns (cross country, indoor track and outdoor track championships in the same year) but we didn't win cross country in 1996 or 1997, costing us a shot at two more," McDonnell said. "It was wonderful to win cross country again because it gives us a shot at another triple crown."

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