Razorbacks take back world lead in relay

Arkansas' Rosey Effiong runs during the 1,600-meter relay at the Razorback Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021, in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE — Women’s teams from the University of Arkansas and Texas A&M traded the world lead in the 1,600-meter relay Saturday.

By the end of the day, the top mark was still in the Razorbacks’ hands.

Arkansas came into the weekend with the the world’s best time of 3:32.18 from last week’s Wooo Pig Classic.

Before Arkansas ran the relay Saturday at the Razorback Invitational, Texas A&M took the world lead with a 3:31.09 performance in Lubbock, Texas.

The Razorbacks’ team of Morgan Burks-Magee, Paris Peoples, Shafiqua Maloney and Rosey Effiong then won in 3:30.80 to move back ahead of the Aggies.

“Probably the most exciting of the events,” Arkansas women’s Coach Lance Harter said of the relay.

The No. 1-ranked Razorbacks won the meet with 133 points, followed by Georgia (93), Oregon (92), Southern California (70), Mississippi State (35), Colorado (27), Ole Miss (27) and Iowa State (10).

“The team win is just kind of extra credit,” Harter said. “We don’t try to do any of the lineups that we potentially can. What’s really exciting is that we had some great breakthroughs individually.”

Peoples won the 400 in 52.48 to take the national lead and move to No. 5 on the world list this season.

After Arkansas’ Katie Izzo and Lauren Gregory went 1-2 in the 5,000 on Friday night, they swapped spots in Saturday’s mile, with Gregory winning in a collegiate-leading time of 4:35.69 and Izzo second in 43:37.07. The Razorbacks also got a third-place finish from Logan Morris in 4:41.25.

Arkansas got second-place finishes from Krissy Gear in the 3,000 (9:08.55), Kennedy Thomson in the 800 (2:05.62) and Bailee McCorkle in the pole vault (14-1 1/4).

In men’s competition, Oregon edged No. 1 Arkansas for the team title 117-116. Ole Miss was third with 73 points, followed by Georgia (64), USC (30), Iowa State (24), Mississippi State (22) and Colorado (16).

The Razorbacks didn’t run the 1,600 or distance medley relays because some athletes weren’t available due to covid-19 safety protocols involving positive tests and contact tracing.

Arkansas senior Markus Ballengee won the heptathlon with a career-best 5,827 points. His marks on Saturday included 8.02 in the 60 hurdles, 15-11 in the pole vault and 2:44.40 in the 1,000.

“Last year at this meet, Markus had to drop out,” Razorbacks men’s Coach Chris Bucknam said. “So this weekend was kind of a bugaboo for him, in the back of his head, I’m sure. He put up a real solid score, and there is a lot more in the tank for Markus.”

Razorbacks senior Etamar Bhastekar improved his Isreali national heptathlon record with a score of 5,680 points to take fourth.

Arkansas got a victory in the 60 hurdles from Tre’Bien Gilbert, who won in 7.84, and second-place finishes from Kieran Taylor in the 800 (1:48.66) and Ryan Brown in the triple jump (52-1 3/4).