Arkansas sophomore Jarrion Lawson got the No. 2-ranked Razorbacks off to a strong start at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships by winning the long jump Friday night in Albuquerque, N.M.
Lawson, from Texarkana, Texas, won with a personal-best leap of 27 feet, 6 ½ inches to take the victory by more than a foot over Rutgers junior Corey Crawford, who was second with a leap of 26-3 ½ .
Arkansas State freshman Roelf Pienaar was third at 25-7 ¼ . Razorbacks junior Raymond Higgs, third at last year’s NCAA Indoor meet, finished 12th at 24-9.
The defending champion Razorbacks also got a seventh-place finish from their distance medley relay team, and through six finals are tied for fifth in the team race with Alabama and Oklahoma State with 12 points.
Oregon leads with 24 points, followed by Arizona (16), Stanford (14) and Florida (13).
Arkansas senior Kevin Lazas, the defending champion in the heptathlon, is in second place after Friday’s four events with 3,315 points. Georgia sophomore Maicel Uibo leads with 3,358 points.
Razorbacks freshman Omar McLeod advanced to the 60-meter hurdles final and sophomore Tomas Squella and junior Patrick Rono advanced to the 800 final.
McLeod ran 7.590 for the second-fastest time in the 60-meter hurdles behind Florida senior Eddie Lovett’s 7.563 clocking. Squella ran 1:49.00 and Rono 1:51.97 in their 800 heats.
No. 1 ranked Florida had three runners in the 800 who failed to advance to the final.
Razorbacks senior Anthony May high jumped 7-0 ½ to finish 10th. Senior senior Neil Braddy ran 46.32 in the 400 for the 11th-fastest time in the heats and failed to advance.
Arkansas’ women’s team won the distance medley relay late Friday night to finish the first day strong. The Razorbacks team of Stephanie Brown, Grace Heymsfield, Dominique Scott and Chrishuna Williams won the event in 11:05.83
Arkansas senior Danielle Nowell and sophomore Ariel Voskamp finished 10th and 12th in the pole vault after both cleared 13-9 ¼ .
Senior Stephanie Brown ran the mile in 4:41.56 to advance to the final. Junior Tamara Myers was 10th i the long jump at 20-0 ½ .
Arkansas’ women’s team has 10 points and is tied for seventh with Kentucky, Texas, Mississippi State and TCU going into the final day of competition.
Stanford leads the women’s division with 22 points. Florida (19), Texas A&M (16), South Dakota (13) and Georgia (11.5) round out the top five.
NCAA Indoor Championships Friday-Today At Albuquerque, N.M.
TEAM TOTALS
MEN TEAM PTS. 1. Oregon .........24 2. Arizona .........16 3. Stanford .......14 4. Florida ..........13 5. Okla. St. ........12 5. Arkansas ....12 5. Alabama .......12 8. Wisconsin ....11 9. Florida State .10 10. Rutgers ........8
WOMEN TEAM PTS. 1. Stanford .......22 2. Florida ..........19 3. Texas A&M ...16 4. South Dakota 13 5. Georgia ......11.5 6. Dartmouth ....11 7. Arkansas ......10 7. Kentucky ......10 7. Texas ............10 7. Miss State ....10 7. TCU ..............10
Sports, Pages 28 on 03/15/2014