Tag: Arkansas track and field

Razorbacks track and field lands a 2x NCAA Champion

Romaine Beckford, Double NCAA High Jump Champ, Joins Razorbacks

Former South Florida high jumper, Romaine Beckford, has signed with Arkansas. He will join the Razorback squad for the upcoming 2023-24 season.

Beckford won in the high jump event at the 2023 Jamaica Championships by clearing a height of 7-3.75 (2.23). He will represent Jamaica at the upcoming NACAC U23 Championships in Costa Rica. Additionally, he is currently in a favorable position to qualify for the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

In 2023, Beckford won the NCAA championship title twice for high jump, achieving 7-5.25 (2.27) outdoors and 7-4.25 (2.24) indoors.

He broke South Florida school records with his outdoor performance at the NCAA Championships and indoor performance of 7-5 (2.26) at the American Athletic Conference meet.

During his time at South Plains junior college, Beckford excelled in athletics, winning the 2021 NJCAA Outdoor high jump and competing in discus and javelin events.

He also secured victory in the high jump category at NJCAA Indoor and placed 10th in the heptathlon event, scoring 4,182 points. In addition, he achieved second place in the high jump category at the 2020 NJCAA Indoor event.

Hibbert earns field scholar athlete of the year award for 2023

The future is bright for Jaydon Hibbert, a freshman from Jamaica who took home both indoor and outdoor Scholar Athlete of the Year honors for the Arkansas track and field team.

Arkansas freshman Jaydon Hibbert made school history on Thursday when he was announced as the indoor and outdoor Field Scholar Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Hibbert, a Jamaica native, becomes the first Razorback to win the award and only the third to sweep both the indoor and outdoor honors, joining Ryan Whiting in 2010 and Turner Washington in 2021.

The entire indoor team from Arkansas was named the Indoor National Scholar Team of the Year, which was the first time since 2015 that the Razorbacks had captured that honor.

Other Arkansas athletes earning an All-Academic honor for the first time in addition to Hibbert included Chris Bailey, Ethan Carney, Tomas Ferrari, and Rojé Stona.

The Arkansas women’s indoor team was also bestowed the Indoor National Scholar Team of the Year. This is the ninth time they have received this and 24 athletes earned All-Academic honors.

Arkansas pole vaulting legend Sandi Morris qualifies for World Championships

Morris had flu-like symptoms and still took second to secure her spot.

Eight.

That’s how many times Sandi Morris has headed to the World Championships in pole vaulting.

The former Arkansas standout and Olympic silver medalist qualified for her eighth overall appearance Sunday night by clearing 15 feet, 1 1/2 inches. Morris won the 2022 title indoors and has finished second in the outdoor championships three times.

Alongside Morris at the games will be Shamier Little, a volunteer coach for the Razorbacks track team. Little was a three-time NCAA champion at Texas A&M before starting his coaching career. She won the 400-meter hurdles in 53.34 seconds.

Ryan Crouser, who trains in Fayetteville and previously helped the Arkansas track and field team, won the shot-put event with a throw of 75-0, putting him back in the Championships where he can defend last year’s title.

Morris clinched her spot despite sickness bothering her over the weekend.

“Even the most basic common cold can put you out. Took all the legal medications I could to help me get through today, all my vitamins. I was happy I was able to pull it off,” Morris said. “Can’t get better than just making the team and knowing that weight is off my chest.”

Taliyah Brooks finishes second in USATF Championships, nears Team USA call

Brooks could make Team USA for the heptahlon later this summer.

Former Arkansas track star Taliyah Brooks proved she’s still one of the best in the nation.

Brooks won the silver medal in the heptathlon at USATF Championships this week, putting her near the top of the pecking order when it comes to Team USA selections in the World Championships in Hungary later in the summer.

Fellow Razorbacks Britton Wilson and Rosey Effiong earned automatic qualifers in the 400-meter dash with times of 50.59 and 51.00 on the women’s side, while Chris Bailey made the final with a time of 45.02.

Anna Hall won the heptathlon with 6,677 points to clinch a spot on Team USA. The rest of the spots will be determined by the world rankings system. The top 24 in the world will qualify for the World Championships.

“I’m super proud of second place,” Brooks said. “Obviously, the last time I was here things didn’t go my way. So, I was glad to come to the meet, to finish in the top three, that was the goal.”

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Arkansas track and field wins Program of the Year in Harter’s final season

The best track-and-field team in the country is once again Arkansas.

Lance Harter’s retirement becomes official at the end of the month. His last meet as head coach of the Arkansas women’s track-and-field team was earlier this month.

And with an NCAA Championship during the indoor season in 2022-23 and a top-three finish at the outdoor championships earlier this month, Harter was able to add one final trophy to the case Tuesday as Arkansas won the NCAA Division I Program of the Year Award from the United States Coaching Association.

It was the second straight year the Razorbacks won the honor. With a total of 25 points across the indoor, outdoor and cross-country seasons, Arkansas finished ahead of Oregon (29.5 points) and Texas (34) in the top three. The Hogs finished 21st in Cross Country in the fall.

Arkansas has finished within the top of the award each of the last 10 seasons.

Alabama and Notre Dame finished fourth and fifth.

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Arkansas finishes third in coach Lance Harter’s final meet

The Razorbacks won the Indoor title earlier this year to send Harting out there.

Arkansas women’s track and field coach Lance Harter will leave the Razorbacks with six national championships.

The Hogs tried to give him a seventh as a goodbye gift, but Texas was just too strong at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The Longhorns scored 83 points, beating even No. 2 Florida by 32 points. Arkansas finished in third, just five points behind the Gators with 46.

Harter announced his plans to retire back in November 2021 with immediate succession plans in place. Longtime assistant Chris Johnson is set to officially takes the reins July 1, though the championships over the weekend marked their last meet together.

Arkansas picked up two wins in the championships. Ackera Nugent won the 100-meter hurdles and Pris Peoples, Joanne Reid, Nickisha Pryce and Rosey Effiong captured the 4×400-meter relay to end the night.

Harter won 44 SEC titles across cross country and the indoor and outdoor seasons. His Razorbacks won the indoor championships earlier this year, too, to send his career inside out in a major way.

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Arkansas finishes second at NCAA Outdoor Championships

Hibbert, Lemonious win NCAA titles as Razorbacks finish second overall at outdoor championship.

Jaydon Hibbert and Phillip Lemonious each won individual titles on Friday evening, but the Arkansas men’s track and field team finished second behind Florida, missing the team championship by four points.

Arkansas was leading Florida by five points, but Florida won the final event with a new collegiate record in the 4×400 relay. Arkansas needed to finish third in order to retain the overall lead but finished eighth with a time of 3:03.66 to add a single point to its overall score.

The team representing Razorback comprised Connor Washington, Ayden Owens-Delerme, Lance Lang (46.73), and Chris Bailey (44.78). The first two runners had a total split of 1:32.15, which put Arkansas in the ninth spot during that stage. It should be noted that they were in ninth place during that stage.

Florida and Arkansas took the top two spots, followed by Stanford, LSU, Arizona State, Texas Tech, Georgia, Alabama, Washington, and BYU.

Lemonious won the 110m hurdle race with a time of 13.24, just slightly off his best time. This is the third Arkansas victory in the NCAA 110m hurdles, following Clyde Scott in 1948 and Omar McLeod in 2015.

Hibbert broke the facility record in the triple jump with a 57-7.5 (17.56) leap. He missed breaking the NCAA meet record by a centimeter but became the first Arkansas freshman to win the NCAA Outdoor title.

Britton Wilson sets NCAA Championships record, advances to finals in two events

She will go for the title in the 400-meter dash and the 400-meter hurdles on Saturday.

If Arkansas sprinter Britton Wilson can pull off what she’s going to attempt Saturday, more than just Razorbacks fans and track-and-field die-hards are going to know who she is.

Wilson advanced to the 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles finals Thursday at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas. No women’s runner in history has captured both crowns.

She ran both events within about an hour of each other. First breaking the NCAA Championships record with a time of 49.36 seconds in the dash then following it with a time of 54.67 in the hurdles. The latter mark was nearly a full second ahead of the second-place finisher in the semifinals.

Wilson won both titles in the SEC Championships in May. She said earlier in the week she will also forgo her final collegiate season next academic year to turn pro.

In all Thursday, Arkansas will have seven entries in Saturday’s championships finals.

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Arkansas’ best, an Olympic hopeful, to turn pro

Britton Wilson could become the first woman to win national titles in 400-meter and 400 hurdles Thursday.

Britton Wilson is a beast. And Arkansas fans are running out of chances to see her.

The Razorbacks sprinter said she will turn professional after the season ends.

First, the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Already an SEC titlist in in the 400-meter sprint and the 400-meter hurdles, Wilson is only woman on the planet to rank in the top 25 all-time in both.

She will attempt to become the first woman to be a national champion in both events this week in Austin.

Her sprint semifinals will take place around 9 p.m. and the hurdles will be about an hour later.

Arkansas has 15 entries and 13 athletes at the event.

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Arkansas sprinter Britton Wilson continues breaking records

Arkansas will have 15 entries into the NCAA Championships.

Arkansas sprinter Britton Wilson may just be the best in school history.

Wilson won the 400-meter and 400-meter hurdles at the SEC Championships over the weekend, marking the second straight year she has won the titles. For good measure, they set meet records.

Wilson ran a 49.51-second mark in the sprint to eclipse the previous record of 49.68 seconds set by Texas A&M’s Athing Mu. Wilson’s mark is the fourth fastest in college history.

Thirty-five minutes later, she ran the distance except in hurdles. In that event, she set the NCAA West record with a time of 53.71 seconds. That was two seconds faster than anyone else in the event.

Arkansas as a team will have a total of 15 entries from 13 different athletes across seven events in the NCAA Championships.

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