FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas women’s cross country coach Lance Harter hadn’t seen anything like the sloppy conditions at the Southeastern Conference Cross Country Championship over the weekend.

Heavy rain had the golf course in Oxford, Miss., under water in places less than 24 hours before the race.

“We were hoping we wouldn’t lose people like Miranda Walker,” Harter said with a laugh. “She’s relatively short anyway.”

The Arkansas women finished third, while the men were second behind No. 6 Alabama. Walker finished 10th, while Dorian Ulrey was fourth on the men’s side.

Harter said there were lots of rumors flying around about moving or postponing the race on Saturday. But UA men’s coach Chris Bucknam said he preferred not to burden his runners with any of that information.

Jackson On The Mend

Harter decided to hold Megan Jackson out of the SEC Championships, but it looks like the senior could be ready for the South-Central Regional Cross Country Championships in two weeks.

An MRI on Monday revealed no fracture in her middle toe, just tendonitis, Harter said.

Jackson and the rest of the Razorbacks will now prepare for the South-Central meet to be held Nov. 14 in Waco, Texas.

Red-Hot Freshman

Nobody seems to be able to slow down Arkansas freshman Jasmine Norton.

The 5-foot-10 freshman earned her fourth Southeastern Conference freshman of the week honor after totaling 41 combined kills against No. 11 Kentucky and Tennessee.

Norton posted two doubledoubles and also recorded her seventh match with 20 or more kills of the season.

Norton has notched double-digit kills in 10 consecutive matches and has eight double-double efforts this season. For the week, the Rowlett, Texas, native averaged 4.56 kills per set, 3.00 digs per set and 5.11 points per set.

Good Finish

Arkansas women’s golf coach Shauna Estes-Taylor was happy to see her team finish the fall season in strong fashion.

The Razorbacks moved up three spots on the leaderboard on the final day of competition in the Las Vegas Collegiate Shootout to finish fifth in their final fall event.

Senior Kelli Shean has been steady all fall and finished third in Las Vegas. Shean easily leads Arkansas with a stroke average of just over 72 in four events.

“We can’t say enough about Kelli’s leadership on the golf course,” Estes-Taylor said. “It sparked some of the younger ones.”

Sports, Pages 10 on 11/04/2009

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