Hogs get finishing kick, but finish 4th at NCAAs

UA women in contention entering final day

In this file photo Arkansas' Taliyah Brooks attempts to clear the bar in the heptathlon high jump on the third day of the NCAA outdoor college track and field championships in Eugene, Ore., Friday, June 9, 2017.

EUGENE, Ore. -- Saving their best for last paid off handsomely for the Arkansas Razorbacks in their rush to the finish line at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

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Women Scores Entering Final Day

Georgia, 24.20

Kentucky 14

Arizona State 13

Kansas 12

Arkansas 11.20

Capped by a gutsy anchor performance by Obi Igbokwe in the 1,600-meter relay, the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville rode one third-place finish and three seconds to 33 points and fourth overall at wet, chilly Hayward Field on Friday night.

"Just really proud of all the athletes, and that's what Arkansas is about," UA men's Coach Chris Bucknam said. "We're going to battle and scrape for every place we can.

"The last four events were our four best. At the end, our guys really came through."

Despite Texas A&M's victory in the final relay, Florida claimed the national title with 61.5 points to 59.5 for the top-ranked Aggies. SEC teams took six of the top seven spots -- with Virginia taking third with 36 points -- and eight of the top 10.

The Razorbacks' close started with junior Kemar Mowatt in the 400 hurdles as he placed third in a school-record 48.49 seconds behind defending champion Eric Futch of Florida and UCLA's Rai Benjamin. Mowatt was all smiles after setting a personal best.

"It was a great race, but I just kind of tightened up in the last 50," Mowatt said. " It was cold and me being from Jamaica, I'm not really used to this. I'm just happy for the new PR, honestly."

Futch caught both Benjamin and Mowatt down the backstretch to win in 48.32 seconds.

"He's a great guy, a great competitor, and he won it last year," Mowatt said, "so for me, I'm the underdog. It's just fun for me."

Next came the triple jump, where two-time indoor national champion Clive Pullen finished second to Florida's KeAndre Bates. Pullen started the final round with a mark of 54 feet, 5½ inches on his fourth attempt, only to see Bates land a 55-foot jump right behind him to take the lead.

Pullen congratulated his SEC rival with a hand slap and a smile on the runway after what turned out to be his winning jump. Bates capped his series with a leap of 54-11½, and Pullen marked 53-9½ on his final two attempts.

"He stepped up and nearly won it," Bucknam said of Pullen, "and he got a big second place for us."

Razorback junior Jack Bruce gave the distance-race-loving crowd a thrill by pushing Stanford's Grant Fisher to the wire in the 5,000. Fisher prevailed in 14:35.60 with Bruce right behind in 14:35.88.

"Nobody had picked him," Bucknam said, "and he nearly won that thing as well."

That left just the 1,600 relay, and Arkansas pushed through again with sophomore Rhayko Schwartz, senior Eric Janise, sophomore Roy Ejiakuekwu and Igbokwe coming home in 3:01.84 to break a 17-year-old school record and finish second. The Aggies won the race in 2:59.98.

Igbokwe, still running on a balky ankle, said he drew inspiration from Janise's effort on the second leg in his final collegiate race.

"I saw him run his heart out, so I just had to do it for my team," Igbokwe said. "I knew I had to man up and go do it."

Bucknam said it was the best relay split of the season by Igbokwe.

"Bad wheel and just did a really, really smart race," the coach said. "I'm really proud of Obi, and he needed that. We needed that big anchor like that."

The Razorbacks picked up their first points Friday with a seventh-place finish in the 400 relay in 38.82, slightly behind their semifinal time and .05 seconds off their season best. Houston won in 38.34 to break LSU's year-old Hayward Field record.

Arkansas State University junior Jaylen Bacon started his double All-American day in the 100 with a fifth-place time of 10.25. Tennessee's Christian Coleman, who set a collegiate record of 9.82 in Wednesday's semifinals, won in 10.04 running into a headwind.

Bacon, who was bothered by a sore left knee in Wednesday's semifinals, sported a slight limp after his two races.

"I kind of took myself out of it mentally-wise," he said. "I didn't know if my leg was ready for it. We've still got USAs coming up, so I didn't want to seriously mess myself up for the rest of the season.

"You just have bad days sometimes."

Bacon came back 35 minutes later to place eighth in a rainy 200 in 20.84 running the tight curve in lane one.

Coleman completed the sweep of the indoor and outdoor sprints for the first time since Tennessee's Justin Gatlin in 2002 by winning the 200 in 20.25.

Meanwhile, Arkansas' heptathlon quartet, who swept the top four spots at the SEC championships, took an early hit in the 100 hurdles when Kelsey Herman tumbled over the first barrier and out of the competition.

That left Taliyah Brooks, Payton Stumbaugh and Leigha Brown to pursue two-time outdoor champion Kendell Williams of Georgia, a senior and 2016 Olympian who didn't compete in the SEC multi-events.

All three Razorbacks exceeded 1,000 points in the hurdles, led by Brooks' 1,069, but didn't score any personal bests in their first four events. Williams led with 3,743 points, with Stumbaugh second (3,552), Brooks third (3,509) and Brown fourth (3,489).

Sports on 06/10/2017