Hogs

The last weekend of April always features the best that collegiate track and field relay running has to offer. Schools from around the nation always had two choices when it came to putting their best on the track.  The Penn Relays is the grand daddy of such spectacles.  Though largely dominated through the years by Villanova, west coast schools such as Stanford and Oregon would venture east to strut their stuff.

Then there are the Drake Relays in the Midwest.  Drake featured a bevy of powerhouse schools from the South, West and Midwest racing in the Distance Medley Relay, 4 x 1500, and all manner of relay distances.  My beloved Jayhawks set a world record at Drake in the Distance Medley Relay back in 1967.  Yes, both meets are steeped in history.

So why in the world did Arkansas decide this weekend would be right for holding what the Razorbacks are calling the National Relay Championships?!?  Sorry, but Arkansas head coach Chris Bucknam is just plain stupid.  The sport has enough trouble getting the public's attention and now Bucknam wants to further dilute the quality of fields competing in Des Moines and Philadelphia.  Arkansas, ironically, has been a relay fixture at Penn.

This reminds me of a hissy fit thrown by the great John McDonnell, another Arkansas track and field coach.  McDonnell felt his squad was cheated at the Kansas Relays in the late 70's and stopped bringing his teams to Lawrence and instead started his own meet to compete against the event.  McDonnell's move was just one of many twists of the knife that put the K.U. Relays into a major decline. 

I have no problem with the idea of a big national relay event.  I just have a problem with the schedule.  And given the fact that the Kansas Relays are now just an over-glorified high school meet Arkansas could have scheduled its relay showcase the same weekend as the K.U. event.  That would put the meet two weeks away from Penn and Drake.  Shame on Arkansas.