LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ long-shot title hopes began to slip away Friday at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.
The No. 12 Arkansas men’s team slipped to eighth after scoring only two points at Drake Stadium. Arkansas finished the day with 18 points, well back of No. 6 Florida, which leads with 36 after 14 events.
No. 8 Virginia Tech is second with 28 points, while No. 3 Arizona is third with 24 and No. 2 LSU has 23. The meet concludes with seven events today.
The No. 12 Arkansas women’s team is tied for 23rd place with eight points. No. 1 LSU and No. 3 Oregon lead the women’s race with 40 points, followed by No. 9 Oklahoma with 24 and No. 7 Stanford with 22.
Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam said before the meet that he was confident his men’s team could outperform its national ranking, which was hurt when indoor national champion pole vaulter Andrew Irwin failed to qualify for the outdoors meet. The Razorbacks have three finalists today, so a high finish isn’t improbable but would require some overachieving.
In their lone scoring chance Friday, the Razorbacks got a seventh-place finish from Akheem Gauntlett in the 400-meter dash in a time of 45.56 seconds. Bucknam said he had planned on a higher finish from Gauntlett, who is scheduled to run legs on the 400- and 1,600-relay teams today.
“He’s kind of new at the 400 and he got into a hot final, but he’s an All-American,” Bucknam said. “We’re hoping for a few more points. We thought that was in the cards, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Gauntlett couldn’t match his preliminary time of 45.13, which would have been the fourth-best time in the final.
“That was a real hard race,” Gauntlett said. “It was probably one of the hardest of my life with so many tough competitors out there. I just didn’t have it at the end like I wanted.”
Bucknam said he has the same high hopes for today’s races, in which Arkansas will have Duncan Phillips in the 1,500 and the two relay teams.
“[Today] is our most important day of the year,” Bucknam said. “We really have to be at the top of our game. We think we can be in trophy contention. We’re going in and see if we can’t take advantage of these races.”
Regina George finished fourth with a time of 51.68 in the 400 for the Arkansas women’s team to earn five points and move the Razorbacks up in the team race. Arkansas has its 1,600 relay team going today.
“I’m pretty satisfied with my finish,” George said. “Fourth place is my highest finish here, so I’m happy about that. I wanted to work on getting out and finishing strong like we always talk about.”
Makeba Alcide finished 13th in the heptathlon with 5,220 points after entering the final day in seventh place.
“Regina had a fantastic performance,” Arkansas’ women’s coach Lance Harter. “She followed the race plan perfectly. She obviously wanted to win it, but it was a very special class of athletes in it.”
Friday’s results
Drake Stadium, Des Moines, Iowa
MEN’S TEAM STANDINGS
(Through 14 events)
Florida ............36 2. Virginia Tech ...28 3. Arizona ...........24 4. LSU ................23 5. Oregon ...........22 6. So. Utah .........20 7. Texas ..............19
Arkansas ......18
UCLA ..............17 10. Stanford .......16
MEN’S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
HAMMER THROW 1. Alexader Ziegler, Virginia Tech, 248-7; 2. Jeremy Postin, Florida, 227-11; 3. Alec Faldermeyer, UCLA, 224-3; 4. Michael Lauro, LSU, 216-8; 5. Quentin Mege, Minnesota, 212-11; 6. Brandon Pounds, Indiana State, 212-1; 7. Micah Hegerle, Minnesota, 209-7; 8. Tyler Johnson, Arizona, 209-7.
POLE VAULT 1. Jack Whitt, Oral Roberts, 18-6.50; 2. Michael Woepse, UCLA, 18-2.50; 3. Derick Hinch, Arizona State, 18-0.50; 4. Nico Weiler, Harvard, 18-0.50; 5. Cale Simmons, Air Force, 17-8.50; 5. Kolby Shepherd, Liberty, 17-8.50; 7. Joe Davis, Virginia Tech, 17-8.50; 8. Chase Brannon, Tennessee, 17-8.50.
TRIPLE JUMP 1. Omar Craddock, Florida, 55-6.25; 2. Floyd Ross, New Mexico, 54-6; 3. Kyron Blaise, LSU, 54-1.75; 4. Hasheem Halim, Virginia Tech, 54-1.35; 5. Troy Doris, Iowa, 54-1; 6. Marcus Robinson, Virginia, 54-0; 7. Chris Benard, Arizona State, 53-8.25; 8. Damon McLean, Princeton, 52-7.25.
400 HURDLES 1. Amaechi Morton, Stanford, 48.79; 2. Jamele Mason, Texas Tech, 48.89; 3. Reggie Wyatt, USC, 49.11; 4. Keyunta Hayes, Texas-San Antonio, 49.38; 5. David Arisil, South Florida, 49.54; 6. Michael Stigler, Kansas, 50.41; 7. Antonio Blanks, Ohio State, 50.49; 8. Chris Carter, BYU, 51.77.
100 1. Andrew Riley, Illinois, 10.28; 2. Harry Adams, Auburn, 10.28; 3. Maurice Mitchell, Florida State, 10.28; 4. Darrell Wesh, Virginia Tech, 10.30; 5. Marcus Rowland, Auburn, 10.30; 6. Kemar Hyman, Florida State, 10.34; 7. Charles Silmon, TCU, 10.39; 8. Aaron Ernest, LSU, 10.45.
800 1. Charles Jock, Cal-Irvine, 1:45.59; 2. Erik Sowinksi, Iowa, 1:45.90; 3. Elijah Greer, Oregon, 1:46.05; 4. Ryan Martin, Cal-Santa Barbara, 1:46.20; 5. Edward Kemboi, Iowa State, 1:46.20; 6. Ricky West, Missouri, 1:46.47; 7. Aaron Evans, Georgia, 1:46.66; 8. Samuel Ellison, Villanova, 1:47.62.
400 1. Tony McQuay, Florida, 44.58; 2. Mike Berry, Oregon, 44.75; 3. Gil Roberts, Texas Tech, 44.99; 4. David Verbug, George Mason, 45.22; 5. Josh Mance, USC, 45.37; 6. Brady Gehret, Penn State, 45.44; 7. Akheem Gauntlett, Arkansas, 45.56; 8. Deon Lendore, Texas A&M, 45.63.
5,000 1. Cameron Lewis, Southern Utah, 13:40.05; 2. Paul Chelimo, North Carolina-Greensboro, 13:41.04; 3. Lawi Lalang, Arizona, 13:42.20; 4. Hassan Mead, Minnesota, 13:42.53; 5. Stephen Sambu, Arizona, 13:43.76; 6. Trevor Dunbar, Oregon, 13:44.16; 7. Mohammed Ahmed, Wisconsin, 13:50.32; 8. Girma Mecheso, Oklahoma State, 13:57.08.
WOMEN’S TEAM STANDINGS
(Through 14 events)
- LSU ................40 1. Oregon ...........40 3. Oklahoma .......24 4. Stanford .........22 5. Kansas ............21 5. Tennessee .......21 7. Illinois State ...16 7. S. Illinois ........16 9. UCLA ..............14 9. Georgia ...........14
OTHERS
T-23. Arkansas ... 8
WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
HEPTATHLON 1. Brianne Theisen, Oregon, 6,440 points; 2. Barbara Nwaba, Cal-Santa Barbara, 5,927; 3. Chelsea Carrier-Eades, West Virginia, 5,839; 4. Jessica Flax, Wisconsin, 5,826; 5. Keia Pinnick, Arizona State, 5,761; 6. Allison Reaser, San Diego State, 5,753; 7. Precious Nwokey, Texas Tech, 5,734; 8. Dorcas Akiniyi, Wisconsin, 5,733.
HIGH JUMP 1. Brigetta Barrett, Arizona, 6-4; 2. Shanay Briscoe, Texas, 6-2.75; 3. Tynita Butts, East Carolina, 6-1.50; 4. Krystle Schade, Alabama, 6-1.50; 5. Toni Young, Oklahoma State, 6-1.50; 6. Michelle Theophille, Louisville, 6-0; 6. Saniel Atkinson, Georgia, 6-0; 6. Victoria Lucas, Texas, 6-0;
SHOT PUT 1. Tia Brooks, Oklahoma, 60-6; 2. Brittany Smith, Illinois State, 58-4.75; 3. Jeneva McCall, Southern Illinois, 57-11.75; 4. Annie Alexander, Tennessee, 56-11.50; 5. Felisha Johnson, Indiana State, 56-11.25; 6. Kearsten Peoples, Missouri, 56-9.50; 7. Chinwe Okoro, Louisville, 56-5.75; 8. Michelle Anumba, Duke, 56-3.50.
400 HURDLES 1. Cassndra Tate, LSU, 55.22; 2. Turquoise Thompson, UCLA, 55.28; 3. Ellen Wortham, Tennessee, 55.82; 4. Thandi Stewart, Miami, 56.53; 5. Dalilah Muhammad, USC, 56.71; 6. Danielle Dowie, Texas, 56.85; 7. Kianna Elahi, Iowa State, 56.93; 8. London Finley, Georgetown, 58.74.
100 1. English Gardner, Oregon, 11.10; 2. Kimberlyn Duncan, LSU, 11.16; 3. Semoy Hackett, LSU, 11.33; 4. Kai Selvon, Auburn, 11.41; 5. Octavious Freeman, Central Florida, 11.41; 6. Alexis Love, Murray State, 11.53; 7. Chelsea Hayes, Louisiana Tech, 11.58; 8. Aurieyall Scott, Central Florida, 11.59.
800 1. Nachelle Mackie, BYU, 2:01.06; 2. Charlene Lipsey, LSU, 2:01.40; 3. Chanelle Price, Tennessee, 2:01.49; 4. Laura Roesler, Oregon, 2:02.96; 5. Anne Kesslring, Oregon, 2:03.41; 6. Kathy Klump, Cincinnati, 2:03.56; 7. Megan Malasarte, Georgia, 2:03.57; 8. Caroline King, Boston College, 2:05.77.
3,000 STEEPLECHASE 1. Shalaya Kipp, Colorado, 9:49.02; 2. Genevieve LaCaze, Florida, 9:50.25; 3. Alexi Pappas, Dartmouth, 10:01.20; 4. Astrid Leutert, Florida State, 10:02.07; 5. Colleen Quigley, Florida State, 10:05.61; 6. Melanie Thompson, Oregon, 10:07.18; 7. Alyssa Kulik, Clemson, 10:07.54; 8. Rebeka Stowe, Kansas, 10:12.16.
400 1. Ashley Spencer, Illinois, 50.95; 2. Rebecca Alexander, LSU, 51.20; 3. Diamond Dixon, Kansas, 51.59; 4. Regina George, Arkansas, 51.68; 5. Phyllis Francis, Oregon, 51.79.
Sports, Pages 25 on 06/09/2012