UA women win behind Gregory's extra 3,000

Arkansas' Lauren Gregory (front) runs during the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, in College Station, Texas.

Junior distance runner Lauren Gregory helped carry the University of Arkansas women’s track and field team to its latest SEC title.

Gregory won the 3,000 meters and took second in the mile on Saturday after anchoring the distance medley relay team to a second-place finish on Friday as the Razorbacks won the team title at the SEC Championships in College Station, Texas.

Arkansas, ranked No. 3 nationally, finished with 127.5 points. Florida, ranked No. 2, was second with 97 points.

It was Arkansas’ eighth consecutive SEC indoor title and 12th overall. The Razorbacks have won 22 conference championships in the last 23 cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field meets.

“I think the rest of the SEC is getting tired of hearing us call the Hogs,” Razorbacks Coach Lance Harter said. “But hey, that’s fine with me. We’ll keep trying to win these titles.”

Florida led Arkansas 97-74 with three of the meet’s 17 events remaining, but the Razorbacks won all three — the 3,000, 1,600 relay and pole vault — and combined for 53.5 points while the Gators didn’t score another point.

After five events Friday, Florida led with 39 points and Arkansas was tied for fourth with 19.

“When we talked to the kids in our meeting this morning, our message was, ‘Hey, don’t panic if we find ourselves 30 points behind on the team totals,’ ” Harter said. “Because we knew we had some of our strongest scoring at the end of the meet.

“Florida has a phenomenal team. They could very well win the national title. But at the conference meet, it’s a little bit more of a tribute to depth, and we were fortunate that our depth came through for us.”

Arkansas’ 1,600 relay of sophomore Rosey Effiong, freshman Jayla Hollis, senior Shafiqua Maloney and freshman Britton Wilson capped the meet by winning in 3:24.09 to set a collegiate record. The previous mark was 3:26.27 run by Texas A&M last year.

“This is the first time [assistant coach Chris [Johnson] has been able to put that foursome together, and they smashed the collegiate record by two seconds,” Harter said. “They ran just an unbelievable race.”

Arkansas scored 22 points in the 3,000, led by Gregory winning in 8:59.28.

“It was Lauren’s decision to run the 3,000,” Harter said. “She wanted to address it as more of a workout to get her ultimately ready for the national championships.

“So she went into it pretty casually, but as the race evolved, she just kept working her way up into a scoring position, and then with 400 to go, she went, ‘Hey, I can maybe win this thing.’ She went from third on to first in the final 200."

Also scoring for Arkansas in the 3,000 were sophomore Isabel Van Camp (third in 9:01.34), senior Logan Jolly (fifth in 9:03.02) and freshman Sydney Thorvaldson (seventh in 9:07.95).

Razorbacks sophomore Elien Vekemans cleared a personal-best 14-8 to win the pole vault. Sophomore Nastassja Campbell was third (14-2), sophomore Kaitlyn Banas fifth (13-10) and sophomore Mackenzie Hayward seventh (13-10) to also score for Arkansas.

Along with running on the record-setting 1,600 relay, Maloney won the 800 in 2:02.10.

Arkansas scored well in the mile with with Gregory second (4:35.63), senior Krissy Gear third (4:36.72) and Jolly fourth (4:35.72).

Razorbacks senior Jada Baylark took second in 60 (7.18) and fifth in the 200 (23.02).

“We just had one nice highlight after another,” Harter said. “It was another amazing performance by our kids.”