Tag: Arkansas track and field

Trio of Razorback jumpers among track & field’s Bowerman watch list

Three Arkansas jumpers have been named to the Bowerman preseason watch list for the nation’s top track & field athlete.

Just four weeks after being named the winner of the 2023 Bowerman award, Arkansas sophomore Jaydon Hibbert now leads a trio of Razorback jumpers on this year’s Bowerman preseason watch list.

The Bowerman is the annual track and field trophy presented to the year’s best collegiate athlete. Similar to football’s Heisman Trophy, it is the sport’s highest achievement.

The list of 10 was released Wednesday and included Hibbert, along with a pair of teammates, senior Romaine Beckford and junior Wayne Pinnock. All three are natives of Jamaica.

Arkansas is the first men’s program to have three athletes on a preseason watch list.

Hibbert was the youngest winner in the award’s 15-year history and the second Razorback to win the award. As an 18-year-old freshman, he claimed a pair of NCAA titles in the triple jump, while producing last year’s world-leading mark with a 58-7.5 (17.87) performance. That mark broke the outdoor collegiate record from 1982, as well as the world U20 record from 1985.

At the indoor national championships, Hibbert needed just one jump of 57-6.5 (17.54) to capture the NCAA title, breaking the collegiate and Arkansas school-record, set by Mike Conley in 1985, as well as the world U20 record and Jamaican national record.

Pinnock, who swept the NCAA long jump titles as a freshman at Tennessee in 2022, won the SEC outdoor title as a Razorback last season, then was runner-up to teammate Carey McLeod at NCAA championships. He also finished second at SEC indoor meet and fourth in the NCAA meet.

Beckford has yet to compete for Arkansas after transferring from South Florida, where he was a double NCAA high jump champion. He set career bests during the 2023 season with a clearance of 7-5.25 (2.27) to win the NCAA Outdoor title and 7-5 (2.26) indoors in winning a conference title.

While at South Florida, Beckford claimed four American Athletic Conference league titles – two indoor and two outdoor – while earning the 2023 AAC Indoor Field Most Outstanding Performance.

The Razorback trio have combined for six titles and 73 points in NCAA Championships the past two years, and each claimed a title at the 2023 Jamaica Championships in their respective events.

Arkansas has now had 12 men named to the watch list all-time, second only to Florida’s 15.

The women’s preseason Bowerman watch list was announced on Tuesday, but did not include any Razorbacks.

Hog track & field legend Conley adds another Hall of Fame nod

Conley remains the highest-scoring male field-eventer in the history of the NCAA Championships, totaling 62 points throughout his collegiate career.

Arkansas track & field legend Mike Conley added yet another accolade to his already extensive list of athletic accomplishments Friday night, as he was inducted into the Collegiate Track & Field and Cross Country Athlete Hall of Fame.

Four decades after his illustrious Razorback career ended, the 60-year-old Conley is still regarded as one of the most dominate jumpers in the sport’s history. He remains the highest-scoring male field-eventer in the history of the NCAA Championships, totaling 62 points throughout his collegiate career.

He becomes the second Hog to be inducted in the Hall of Fame, joining Erick Walder, the long-standing collegiate record-holder in the long jump, who was part of the inaugural induction class in 2022.

Conley first made a name for himself at the national level when he won his first NCAA title, as a sophomore in 1983, winning the indoor triple jump. Throughout his junior and senior seasons, Conley captured eight more titles.

In 1984, he made history by becoming the first athlete to sweep all four single-year horizontal jump titles at the NCAA Championships, winning the long jump and triple jump titles at NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor meets. He repeated the double-double feat in 1985, while also finishing second in the 200m and taking part in Arkansas’ sixth-place finish in the 4x100m relay.

While still in college, Conley claimed the bronze medal in the long jump at the inaugural World Championships in 1983. Then in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he won the silver medal for the United States in the triple jump.

Conley also played a significant role in team national championships by the Razorbacks. With a cross country national team title in the fall of 1984, Arkansas achieved its first NCAA Triple Crown with the pair of 1985 track and field titles.

The 2023 induction ceremony, held in Eugene, Ore., also included Michael Carter (SMU), Edwin Moses (Morehouse), Renaldo Nehemiah (Maryland), Dave Wottle (Bowling Green), Dyrol Burleson (Oregon), Joetta Clark Diggs (Tennessee), Sheila Hudson (California), Holli Hyche (Indiana State), Sonia O’Sullivan (Villanova), Julie Shea Sutton (NC State), Seilala (Sua) Zumbado (UCLA), John Thomas (Boston Univ.), and Wyomia Tyus (Tennessee State).

Current and former Hogs earn three medals on final day of World Championships

In all, Arkansas took home eight medals over the course of the games.

Arkansas’ status as one of the best track-and-field programs in the nation stayed true in the last week.

On the final day of the World Championships in Hungary, former Arkansas athletes earned three more medals to close the ceremony. In all, current and ex-Hogs picked up eight totals medals, including three gold and four silver, in the games.

The final day saw Nickisha Pryce get a silver as part of Jamaica’s 4×400-meter replay team and Amber Anning grabbed a bronze in the same event with her British relay group. On the men’s side, Chris Bailey took a gold as part of the American 4×400-relay team.

Five of the eight medal winners for Arkansas were current collegians. Rosey Effiong joined Bailey as a current Razorback with gold. She earned one as part of the mixed 4×400 team, a team that set a world record.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Arkansas signee named National Athlete of the Year

Shawnti Jackson broke the high-school 100-meter record earlier in the summer.

When Shawnti Jackson committed to Arkansas in December, the word could have just been considered another notch in the Razorbacks’ track-and-field belt.

On Monday, though, she earned an honor most to ever don a Hogs uniform only dreamed.

Jackson was named USA TODAY HSSA National Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Arkansas coach Chris Johnson, who was coach-in-waiting when Jackson committed, knew what kind of runner the Razorbacks were getting.

“To sign the No. 1 sprinter in the country, with her talents in the 100-, 200- and 400-, is huge,” Johnson said in December. “We’re ecstatic and excited. Being able to secure an athlete like that not only brings attention and notoriety to your program, but interest from other high-level athletes as well.”

Since those remarks, all Jackson has done is break the national high-school record in the 100-meter dash en route to being named the best in the country. The Carolina-based sprinter ran a 10.89-second 100 in Nashville back in June.

That mark placed her in a tie for fifth all-time among Under-20 sprinters on the women’s side. The leader, by the way, is Sha’Carri Richardson, the sprinter who won the 100-meter World Championship on Monday.

Jackson has that kind of talent.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Two Hogs in finals of pole vault at World Championships

Sandi Morris and Tina Šutej finished second and fourth at last year’s World Championships.

Monday’s results in the qualifying round of the pole vault at the World Championships were not much of a surprise for Tina Šutej and Sandi Morris.

But for Arkansas fans, it was another feather in the cap of two legends.

Both Šutej and Morris, each former Razorbacks track-and-field stars, advanced to the finals of the event Monday night. They both cleared 15-3 (4.65) to clinch the spot. Those finals will be held Wednesday night.

Šutej made each of her first three vaults on just one try. The final height, the 4.65, took three tries. Morris needed two attempts at 4.50, 4.60 and 4.65.

Morris the reigning silver medalist in the event after clearing 4.85 last year in Eugene, Oregon. Šutej finished fourth at the same event that year.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Heartbreak for Britton Wilson at World Championships

The former Arkansas sprinter appeared to be bothered by the heat as she collapsed at the finish line.

Britton Wilson will have another chance.

The former University of Arkansas sprinter had hoped for a potential gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Hungary over the weekend in the 400-meter dash. She had, just months earlier, set the United States collegiate record.

But as she crossed the finish line in her first-round heat Sunday, Wilson collapsed. Minutes later, she was taken from the track in a wheelchair. It was unclear early Monday what caused the collapse, though heat had been issue through the week.

Something appeared to be wrong in the home-stretch. Wilson finished with a time 53.87 seconds, a mark almost five seconds slower than her record of 49.13 that she had set at the SEC Championships in the 2022-23 season with the Razorbacks.

Earlier in the day, Steven Gardiner from Bahamas had the same issue. He was also wheeled away from the track after his 400-meter run.

Wilson’s career will continue upward in the professional ranks after she finished her career with the Razorbacks in June.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Track and Field World Championships will have 26 current and former Hogs participating

Those former Razorbacks could rake in the medals, too, if things go their way.

Arkansas is a track and field school. The Razorbacks are one of the nation’s best in the endeavor and have been for decades.

It’s no surprise, then, that Arkansas will be represented by 26 athletes at this week’s World Championships in Hungary.

Current Hogs triple-jumper Jaydon Hibbert headlines a group that also includes 12 other current Razorbacks. Other than Hibbert, Arkansas senior Ayden Owens-Delerme likely has the best chance at a medal. He finished fourth last year in the games in the heptathalon.

Two of the largest track-and-field coverage web sites tab Hibbert at the No. 2 favorite in his event. Hugues Fabrice Zango, who will compete for Burkina Faso, is predicted to win the event.

Overall, eight different nations are represented by Hogs. Eleven are from the United States, eight from Jamaica, two from Great Britain and one apiece from Bahamas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Slovenia and South Africa.

Perhaps the most intriguing event for Arkansas fans is women’s pole vault. Former Hogs Sandi Morris is the reigning silver medalist, an prize she’s won three times at the championships, and fellow former Razorbacks athlete Tina Sutej will be competing in the event for the sixth time at the World Championships.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Razorbacks bring home seven medals in NACAC U23 Championships

The Arkansas track program had a strong presence during the NACAC U23 Championships over the weekend, with Razorbacks scoring seven medals.

It was a successful weekend for Razorbacks who entered the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) U23 Championships held in Costa Rica.

Arkansas representatives brought home seven total medals from the event. One gold, three silver and three bronze medals were collected from six total events. Those medals were earned by four current Arkansas track athletes and two transfers who will join the Razorbacks for the 2023-24 season.

Romaine Beckford, a transfer from South Florida, scored gold for Jamaica in the high jump with a clearance of 7-3 (2.21) while his new Razorback teammate, Kason O’Riley, earned a silver medal for Team USA with a clearance of 7-1.75 (2.18).

In the 4 x 400m relay, two silver medals were collected by Razorbacks Joanne Reid (Jamaica) and Connor Washington (Team USA). Washington also added a bronze medal in the 200m with a time of 20.74. Wisconsin transfer Destiny Huven scored bronze in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.19. Joanne Reid placed fourth in the 400m final with a time of 54.10.

Leroy Russell II brought home the seventh medal for Razorback participants by scoring a bronze medal in the 4 x 400m relay for Canada. The team posted a 3:25.42 time with Russell II running the third leg.

Freshman Razorback jumper Jaydon Hibbert impresses in Diamond League debut

Freshman Razorback triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert finished runner-up in his Diamond League meet debut over the weekend.

Jaydon Hibbert had never competed in a Diamond League track and field event before Friday. In his Diamond League triple jump debut, the freshman Razorback finished second after leading earlier in the competition.

His best jump was recorded with a mark of 57 feet, 11.25 inches (17.66). The final jump of the competition by 30-year-old Hugues Fabrice Zango narrowly beat out Hibbert’s jump. Zango record a winning jump of 58 feet, one inch (17.70).

The 18-year-old Hibbert produced the following series during his debut: 56-0 (17.07), 56-6.5 (17.23), 55-10.25 (17.02), 57-11.25 (17.66), pass, 57-6.25 (17.53). His second and fourth rounds jumps moved him into the lead.

Hibbert’s jumps in Monaco ranks as the fifth best performance on the collegiate all-dates list. Hibbert has three of the top five marks with his collegiate record of 58-7.5 (17.87), and his winning mark of 58-0.25 (17.68) from the Jamaica Championships earlier this summer.

Former Razorback track star Nikki Hiltz breaks nearly four-decade old record

Former Razorback track and field star Nikki Hiltz breaks 1985 American mile record during the Monaco Diamond League track meet.

Over the weekend, former Arkansas track star Nikki Hiltz was able to break a record that had stood since 1985.

During the Monaco Diamond League mile event, Hiltz finished sixth while recording a time of 4:16.35 seconds. That broke the American mile record time of 4:16.71, which was set by Mary Slaney in 1985.

The previous best for Hiltz in the mile was was 4:18.38, which was good enough to put her fifth on the United States’ all-time list. Before this year, Hiltz’s PR was 4:21.89, set in 2022. Elise Cranny, another American in the race with Hiltz, finished eighth with a recorded time of 4:16.47 to eclipse the previous American record as well.

The next Diamond League event will be held in the Olympic Stadium in London on Sunday, July 23. The event will be available on Peacock TV and begin at 8 p.m. CT.

Multiple former Razorbacks are scheduled to participate in the London Diamond League event. USATF champion Krissy Gear will be racing in the 3000m steeplechase, Sandi Morris and Tina Šutej will compete in the pole vault, Tara Davis-Woodhall will compete in the long jump and Shamier Little will race in the 400m hurdles.