Spring Semester Brings New Sports for Arkansas Fans
The idea that a new semester brings a clean slate is completely cliched, but I’m using it anyway because it is also true. A new semester brings with it something better than opportunities to do better in the classroom. It brings new sports.
The fall semester is the home to the granddaddy of all collegiate sports. Other than football, only three other Razorback sports teams – soccer, volleyball and cross country – hold their true competition seasons in the fall.
Many of the team’s that will try to earn a championship during the spring semester are already off to hot starts.
This year’s gymnastics team features five All-Americans. The baseball team is ranked No. 1 to open the season. The softball team returns a lot of talent from last season’s team and went 7-1 in their fall schedule.
The swimming and diving team placed second out of fifteen teams at the Houston Cougar Invite and only has one loss in their seven other meets. The men’s and women’s track and field teams already have victories over Texas and Oklahoma State, respectively.
This early success shows that the Razorbacks are on track to repeat or even improve upon last year’s postseason accomplishments.
Most fans remember the baseball team’s run through Omaha and the third-place finish in the College World Series. However, many other Razorbacks enjoyed postseason success last season.
The women’s basketball team made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament before falling just two points short of upsetting the Texas A&M Aggies.
The men’s and women’s golf teams each made NCAA regionals and finished sixth and eighth, respectively.
The gymnastics team earned a Super Six appearance and the softball team made it to their regional final before falling to California.
The women’s track team placed third in the Southeastern Conference in both indoor and outdoor events. The men won the SEC indoor and outdoor events and placed second in indoor events and eighth in outdoor events at the NCAA Championships.
As this new semester begins, the Razorbacks have continued the winning trend. This past weekend alone there were eight events and the Razorbacks pulled out wins in all but two of them.
Football season is long past over and the new coaching staff is hard at work getting the football team back to its winning ways. So let’s leave the crazy speculation about next season to the message board fanatics and support the athletes that are competing now.
It seems to go without saying that Razorback fans have more than enough to be excited about in the new year.
Haley Markle is the Assistant Sports Editor for the Arkansas Traveler. Her column appears every Monday. Follow the sports section on Twitter @UATravSports.
