Bucknell University Athletics
Rob Arent's Fantastic Four Hours
1/6/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
Jan. 6, 2011
By Jon Terry, Bucknell Athletic Communications
At 5:18 p.m. on May 1, 2010, a warm spring Saturday at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, the Bucknell men's track and field team was one baton exchange and about 48 seconds away from its first conference championship in almost two full decades. After a strong third leg, Jordan Donaldson made a safe handoff to the Bison anchorman, who was not at all difficult to spot as he streaked down the back stretch.
Running a full head taller than his competitors in the 4x400-meter relay, his milky white locks flowing in the breeze, Robert Arent raced home with the finish the Bison needed to secure a microscopic three-point win over perennial power Army. Not only did Arent's grueling anchor leg clinch Bucknell's first Patriot League men's track title since 1991, but it earned him Athlete of the Meet honors and capped off one of the most remarkable four-hour periods by any athlete in program history.
Not bad for a walk-on who had only been competing in his primary event for three years.
A native of New Providence, New Jersey, Arent was a good soccer player growing up and continued to excel in that sport in high school. He decided to go out for the track and field team, simply to "keep in shape for soccer," as he put it. Admittedly, track never totally captivated Arent's interest, until his senior year that is, when his coach finally relented to his request to try the hurdles.
New Providence High School did not have a hurdles coach, so Arent took some pointers from some younger teammates who had already been competing in the event. Needless to say, in a discipline where proper technique is almost as essential as pure speed, Arent was pretty raw.
"We just kind of did what we felt was right," he says. "I had really bad form, but I enjoyed running the hurdles and started getting better at it."
Eventually, Arent got his time down to 54.7 in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles and finished 10th in the state in that event. That late success convinced his high school coaches that he might be able to compete at the college level, and they urged him to try to walk on at Bucknell, where he had already been accepted. In fact, his coach met Bison assistant Danielle Hobson-Lynch at the state championship meet and put in a good word.
"Everything just worked out," says Arent with a smile. "Track was never my favorite thing, but when I started doing hurdles, it became so much more exciting for me. When I got to Bucknell I came in with really bad form, and Coach Hobson worked with me a lot. My arms were a mess, flying all over the place. I'm still working on that, actually, but Coach Hobson and the older hurdlers have been great working with me on my form."
Take one glance at Arent's jam-packed bio and it is hard to believe he's really still a greenhorn in the hurdles. Last year he broke the school record in the 400-meter hurdles, running a 51.59 at the IC4A Championships. He also ranks third all-time in the 110-meter high hurdles (14.45), fifth in the open 400-meter dash (48.12) and has numerous top-10 times in relays. Arent recently kicked off his junior season by running the second-fastest time (8.21) in school history in the indoor 60-meter hurdles.
While those individual records serve as significant progress markers, Arent says nothing so far has topped the memory of May 1, 2010.
Entering the Patriot League Outdoor Championship on their home track, the Bison figured to be a serious contender for the title. Head coach Kevin Donner had one of his deepest men's teams in years, with talent scattered across every discipline. Whether it would be enough to catch 17-time champion Army was in question, but if everything broke right, they had a great chance.
Bucknell opened up a 10-point lead over Navy and a 12-point margin over Army after day one of the two-day meet, but the bulk of the points were still to be awarded on that final day. The Bison scored 137 points on Saturday to reach 181 for the meet, and it only seemed like Arent scored them all. In reality, Bucknell used every bit of its depth to win the closest meet in league history - a whopping 13 Bison earned first- or second-team all-conference honors - but no one in attendance that day will forget Arent's fantastic four hours.
Arent's Saturday began at 1:20 p.m., in the finals of the 110-meter high hurdles. Arent admits that he is better in the intermediate hurdles, but the high hurdles present a fun challenge.
"I run both the 400 and 400 hurdles, and the high hurdles are run at a totally different pace, so that event is a really nice change," he says.
At the Patriot League Championships, Arent was not even the top seed on his own team in the high hurdles, with that honor going to senior Andrew Yehl, a former league indoor high hurdles champion. Arent qualified third in the 110 hurdles behind only Army's Domonick Sylve and Yehl, and the finals would also go in that order, with Sylve breaking the league record with a blazing 13.90 (he would later cut that time to 13.67 en route to an NCAA bid). Arent ran a personal-best 14.45, the No. 3 time in program history.
Less than 30 minutes after crossing the finish line in the 110 hurdles, Arent was back in the blocks again for the 400-meter dash. While focusing so much on improving his technique in the 400 hurdles, along the way Arent had become quite good in the open 400. At the 2010 Patriot League Indoor Championships, he won gold in both the 400 and 4x400 relay. This time, on short rest, Arent came from behind and out-kicked Army's Michael Hutchins to the tape for his first career outdoor title. Arent's time of 48.12 was best by just three-hundredths of a second.
The gun went off for the 400 hurdles at 3 p.m. This event has become Arent's specialty, and he showed why, winning his second gold medal of the day by a half-second, clocking a time of 52.80. He made history, too, becoming the first athlete in Patriot League history to win both the 400 and 400 hurdles in the same meet.
Another Bison sophomore, Dan Mularz, took silver in what turned in to a major swing event. Bucknell outscored Army 18-3 in the 400 hurdles.
The final event of the meet - the 4x400 relay - was scheduled for 5:15 p.m., and everyone in the stadium knew that the team champion would hinge on that race.
Bucknell entered the final relay with a slim seven-point lead, but Army was considered the favorite. That meant if the Black Knights won, Bucknell would need to finish second or third in order to claim the title. An Army win and a Bucknell fourth-place finish would give the Black Knights a one-point victory.
Mularz got the Bison off to a good start, and quickly, Army, Navy and Bucknell separated from the pack. All the Bison would need were clean passes, and when Arent crossed the line in second place just over a second behind Army, it set off a massive celebration on the Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium infield.
Donner and his staff were reduced to tears, and perhaps no one cheered louder for the men than the members of the Bucknell women's team, who had long ago wrapped up its 11th team championship, clinching the 2009-10 cross country-indoor-outdoor "Triple Crown" in the process.
One of the few individuals not celebrating was Arent, only because he could not summon one more ounce of energy.
"I didn't even notice what was going on," said Arent, who teamed with Mularz, John Picardo and Donaldson to record the second-fastest 4x400 time in program history (3:13.66 - the only other sub 3:14 4x400 came back in 1975 and was anchored by Hall of Famer Tom McLean, who would win the NCAA title in the 800 meters the following year). "Everyone said all the fans were running back and forth between the back stretch and the home stretch, but all four of us didn't even realize it, we were just so focused on doing well for the team.
"That relay was really nerve-racking. The coaches really had to rally us, because we all had run two or three races that day. We got psyched up, knowing that it came down to that relay. It was incredible. I think we all just ran on pure adrenaline."
After the Patriot League Championships, Arent went on to break the school record and finish fourth in the 400 hurdles at the IC4A Championships, earning him his first All-East citation. At the NCAA East Regional, Arent placed fifth in his heat, just missing out on a spot in the quarterfinals.
Looking forward, Arent hopes to advance out of the regionals and earn a spot in the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. But first, he has been named team co-captain as a junior, and he has his sights set on leading the Bison to a Patriot League repeat in 2011.
"Right now I am most concerned about the team," he says. "Up through the Patriot League Championships, it is all about the team. Hopefully we will be able to win it again, and then after that I'll be looking to do as best as I can personally. My goal is to be competitive on the national level."
Incredibly, the kid who only joined his high school track team to stay in shape for soccer, and who had never even competed in his best event until his senior year, is now a Division I star hoping to pass down his own advice to younger Bison athletes.
"Now I'm not seeking as much advice from my teammates as I am looking to pass on what I know from my own experiences," Arent says. "I want to take all the great advice I've been given and relay it to the younger guys, just use my own competitive drive to help them do their best."
And if this year's crop of newcomers can improve like Arent, the Bison will certainly be in contention for more championships for years to come.
Note: This story appeared in a recent edition of the Bucknell Basketball Gameday Program.
