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Rising to the Occasion (2003–2006) “I am his creation.” —Alistair Cragg1 If recruiting is the lifeblood of any successful collegiate athletics program, then the Arkansas dynasty appeared to be as healthy as ever entering the fall of 2003. “You will never see a donkey win the Kentucky Derby,” said McDonnell. There were certainly plenty of thoroughbreds coming to town for that fall crosscountry season. McDonnell had signed a group of distance athletes, who on the surface appeared to be as talented a group that had ever come into Fayetteville at one time. It included a 4:03 miler from Florida, Sam Vazquez; a 4:07 miler from Missouri, Adam Perkins; a Footlocker West champion from California, Mike Poe; and a 3:41 1,500meter runner from Australia, Mark Fountain. With Alistair Cragg in the prime of his career, and McDonnell having regained the bounce in his step after his health scare, the future was looking bright. Still, John had learned in over thirty-plus years of collegiate coaching that not everything is what it first appears to be. “There were times you’d get a batch of good athletes, and others you’d get a batch of bad athletes,” said McDonnell. “They were like a litter of pups. Sometimes you got pure breeds, and sometimes they were all mongrels. It was always an issue of leadership because misery loves company. You only need one guy who is miserable and talks to another and another one talks to another one, and all of a sudden you have a group of guys who are miserable. That happened to me a few times, and it had nothing to do with training.” Though each of the incoming athletes would experience various degrees of success in a Razorback uniform, the end result was collectively less than the sum of their parts, either due to unfortunate circumstances or personal self-destruction. For Mark Fountain and Adam Perkins it was the former. “[Mark Fountain’s] eligibility clock had started so we were not able to get him eligible ,” said McDonnell. “He had a great personality and in two years was down to 3:33 [1,500 meter]. He ran into problems with his agent not getting him into the right races, but boy did he run aggressive. You had to hold him back or he’d get hurt.” 337 15 Though Fountain would continue to be coached by McDonnell for nearly six years thereafter, he would never wear the Razorback uniform. In Adam Perkins’s case, his club coach had advised him to forego his final year of high-school competition after he ran a 4:07 mile during his junior year. Although the decision was made ostensibly to seek better competition elsewhere, it ultimately left Perkins unable to find competition anywhere. “He never checked that he couldn’t leave the state of Missouri to run because anyone [in high school] he ran against would be ineligible,” said McDonnell. “So he never got to race his senior year.” “Coach McDonnell thought it was the worst decision I made from a competitive standpoint because you need to stay in competition,” said Perkins. “I made my commitment to Arkansas, and they weren’t too concerned about missing my senior year, but I think it kind of hindered me.” Despite nearly every school offering a full scholarship, Perkins accepted an academic scholarship at Arkansas. After an entire season away from competition, Perkins was literally chomping at the bit during his first year, but like many talented freshmen, the adjustment to training at Arkansas would take time. “You have high expectations and hopes as one of the top high-school runners in the country going to one of the top programs, so you feel the pressure to perform,” said Perkins. “It didn’t always feel like it was working out my freshman year, and I struggled.” In the case of Mike Poe and Sam Vazquez, that transition was much smoother—at least initially. Poe finished seventh at the SEC Cross Country Championships and sixtythird at the NCAA Championships, while Vazquez was an All-American in the distance medley relay after running 2:52 for 1,200 meters as a freshman. “[Vazquez] was a stud and the nicest kid you’d ever meet,” said McDonnell. “His freshman year he ran 1:48 [800 meter] and 3:42 [1,500 meter] at the SEC meet. He was gifted and had it all—the head, everything. He just wasn’t disciplined in the...

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