Razorbacks win DMR, in 3rd after first day at NCAA meet

Arkansas' distance medley relay team of (from left) Isabel Van Camp, Paris Peoples, Krissy Gear and Logan Jolly celebrate after winning at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday, March 11, 2022, in Birmingham, Ala.

The Arkansas women’s distance medley relay team won in a school-record time of 10 minutes, 51.37 seconds to give the Razorbacks a strong end to the first day at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday in Birmingham, Ala.

The lineup of Isabel Van Camp, Paris Peoples, Krissy Gear and Logan Jolly contributed 10 points to Arkansas’ team score. The Razorbacks have 18 points through six events and are tied with Virginia Tech for third place. Florida is in first place with 22 points.

Jolly took the baton in second place and briefly fell to third on the anchor leg. But she ran a mile split of 4:32.21 and pulled away in the final 600 meters to give Arkansas a two-second win over Stanford. The Razorbacks won the DMR for the first time since 2015.

“I knew I could cruise behind and catch slowly,” Jolly said on the ESPN broadcast. “I tried to be patient a little bit, but then I got a little antsy and was like, ‘Got to go.’ Once I went, I couldn’t look back. I just ran my heart out for this team.”

The Razorbacks scored in three events Friday and qualified in two others to put themselves in contention for the national title in Saturday's final day of competition.

Lauren Gregory finished fourth in the 5,000 meters in a career-best 15:32.95 to contribute five points to the team score.

Arkansas picked up three points in the pole vault. Elien Vekemans and Natassja Campbell both cleared 13-11 3/4 to finish seventh and eight, respectively.

Shafiqua Maloney was the last to qualify in the 800. Maloney, who has the nation’s second-best 800 time, finished fourth in her heat in 2:04.40. Britton Wilson was third in the 400 prelims in 51.92.

Jada Baylark was seeded seventh in the 60 and 200, but failed to qualify in both events. Baylark was 10th in the 60 in 7.20 and 16th in the 200 in 23.64.

Jayla Hollis just missed qualifying in the 200 with a ninth-place time of 23.33, one-hundredth of a second behind eighth-place Laila Owens of Texas A&M. Joanne Reid was 13th in the 200 in 23.48.

“We talked about the idea that the goal was to come here and get a trophy,” said Arkansas women’s Coach Lance Harter, whose team is trying to win its third consecutive indoor national title. “We’re definitely in that conversation. It’s now a situation of we’ve got to take care of business tomorrow because I think Florida is in the driver’s seat, Texas is chasing real close and then ourselves, and a host of others are going to be trying to grab one of those spots up there on the podium.”

Arkansas’ men are likely out of contention for the team title after scoring three points with a seventh-place finish by Amon Kemboi in the 5,000 (13:29.04) and an eighth-place finish by Ryan Brown in the long jump (24-5 1/2).

The Razorbacks just missed on points in the DMR. Anchor miler Elias Schreml took the baton in fourth, but finished ninth in 9:30.86, four-tenths of a second behind Michigan.

Kieran Taylor finished ninth with a time of 1:48.09 and failed to qualify for the finals of the 800. James Benson also failed to qualify in the 400 with a 10th-place finish in 46.65.

“Everybody is pretty disappointed,” Arkansas men’s Coach Chris Bucknam said. “We came in with high expectations and had a really tough day — not at all because of a lack of effort from our guys or their commitment to get it done. We just narrowly missed a bunch of stuff.”

Arkansas is tied for 20th with Mississippi State, Eastern Michigan, Iowa State and Kansas after the first day. Tennessee leads with 18 points after a 1-2 finish in the long jump. Northern Arizona is second with 17 points.

Phillip Lemonious was 14th in the 60 hurdles with a time of 7.83. John Baker, nursing a hamstring injury, was 14th in the long jump at 22-3.

Heptathlete Ayden Owens is in fifth place with 3,340 points through four events scored. Daniel Spejcher had a personal-best first-day score of 3,149 in the heptathlon and is in 12th place.

“We’re going to try to rally tomorrow with what we have left,” Bucknam said.

BYU’s Zach McWhorter, a Springdale Har-Ber graduate, was second in the pole vault with a height of 18-8 1/4.