FAYETTEVILLE -- It had been seven months since Jarrion Lawson long-jumped in a competition, but the Arkansas senior didn't look the least bit rusty Friday night.
Lawson won the long jump at the Razorback Invitational with a mark of 26 feet, 9 3/4 inches -- the top mark in the world this indoor season.
"To go 26-9 in the opener?" Arkansas jumps coach Travis Geopfert said. "That's fun right there."
Lawson said he had hoped to go 27 feet, and he had a foul that might have exceeded that mark had it counted. Of his four legal jumps, three were better than 26 feet.
"I just can't control my speed yet," Lawson said. "But it was good for me to practice these five jumps."
Lawson, a 12-time All-American who won the 2014 NCAA indoor long jump title, was bothered by a sore left knee but said he's fully healthy now. His personal indoor best is 27-6 1/2.
"I feel like this is the year for me to go 28 feet," he said.
Geopfert smiled at the thought.
"I think that's a real possibility for Jarrion," Geopfert said. "The competition he's going to face later in the season will warrant that."
Lawson will run in the 60 meters and on the 1,600-meter relay today. Earlier this season, he ran his first 60 in 6.64 seconds.
"I'm looking to 6.5," he said. "It's time to get in those top-five rankings.
"I know if I execute, I can get it. We'll see how that goes."
Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam said being able to quickly shift his concentration from long jump to the sprints is a strength of Lawson's.
"He can compartmentalize -- forget about tonight and focus in on the 60," Bucknam said. "The sky's the limit for him."
Texas A&M senior Devin Jenkins edged Arkansas sophomore Kenzo Cotton by a hundredth of a second to win the 200. Jenkins ran 20.77 with Cotton second in 20.78.
The pentathlon was the highlight event for Arkansas' No. 1 women's team Friday night, with four Razorbacks -- sophomores Taliyah Brooks and Payton Stumbaugh, senior Alex Gochenour and junior Leigha Brown -- all hitting marks Coach Lance Harter said should qualify them for the NCAA meet.
Georgia junior Kendell Williams, the NCAA record-holder in the pentathlon, won with 4,558, but Arkansas took five of the top seven places with Brooks second [4,457], Gochenour third [4,229], Stumbaugh fifth [4,170], Brown sixth [4,134] and freshman Kelsey Herman seventh [3,868].
"To have qualifiers in the pentathlon in the same meet was fantastic," Harter said. "I know we've never done that before. I don't know that it's ever been done by anybody. It shows our depth.
"We knew they were training well, and in some of the events, they'd done well in early meets, but you're not sure what's going to happen when they have to do all five in one day.
"That's a long day, but they were spectacular all across the board."
Harter said Brooks and Stumbaugh had "monster" personal bests.
Arkansas freshmen Lexi and Tori Weeks, twin sisters from Cabot, took first and second in the pole vault.
Lexi Weeks, the national leader at 14-9, took first at 14-6 1/2. Tori Weeks cleared a season-best 14-2 1/5 to join her sister in being a national qualifier.
"Lexi just keeps going along, and Tori finally got her qualifying mark in," said Bryan Compton, Arkansas' field events coach. "It's nice for a freshman to get that off her back."
Sports on 01/30/2016