Nikki Hiltz, a former Arkansas All-American, won the 1,500 meters for the second consecutive year at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Hiltz ran 4:08.35 to win Saturday night at the Albuquerque (N.M.) Convention Center to edge Emily Mackay, who took second in 4:08.70.
“I love championship-style racing,” Hiltz told NBC reporter Lewis Johnson on the network’s broadcast. “There’s no rabbits or pacesetters. It’s just all about racing. It was just so much fun.”
Hiltz ran the final 200 in 28.7 seconds.
“I told myself all day, ‘I’m going to have the fastest last 200, I’m going to have a really good last 200,’ ” Hiltz told reporters after the race. “And the more that I focused on executing that, the less nervous I got because all my focus could go towards that.”
Hiltz won last year’s USA indoor title in 4:17.10 in a more tactical race.
“I took it out a little earlier because I just felt good,” Hiltz told reporters. “I just tried to accelerate each straightaway and close as hard as I could.”
Former Arkansas NCAA champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist Sandi Morris cleared 15 feet, 7 inches to take second in the pole vault. Katie Moon won with a clearance of 15-11.
Morris passed on 15-9 and had three misses at 15-11.
By finishing among the top two, Hiltz and Morris qualified to compete at the World Indoor Championships, which will be held March 1-3 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Competing indoors and outdoors, Morris has won two gold medals at the World Championships and two silver medals. She’s an eight-time USA champion.
Morris, 31, said she was happy with her performance Saturday after sustaining an Achilles tendon injury about a month ago.
“I did a lot of modified training and rehab, and thankfully I felt really good,” Morris told reporters. “This was a little bit of rust-buster, so I’m really happy to be able to get on the team [for the World Championships].”
Morris said having to adjust her training leading into the USA Championships didn’t affect her confidence.
“I’ve pole vaulted for half my life, so I just have to make sure I’m healthy and firing on all cylinders,” Morris said. “I felt a little slow, but I’m OK with where I’m at right now because I know what I’ve been through.”
Former Razorback NCAA champion sprinter and jumper Jarrion Lawson took third in the long jump. Lawson, 29, had a top mark of 26-5 and finished behind Johnny Brackins (27-0) and Isaac Grimes (26-5 1/2).
Chris Bailey, an All-American at Arkansas last year when he set the school record in the 400 at 45.09 as a senior after transferring from Tennessee, ran 45.76 at the USA Championships to take third behind Brian Faust (45.47) and Jacory Patterson (45.48).
Former Arkansas All-American Kiara Parker ran 7.15 to take fifth in the 60 and match the UA record time she set in 2019.
Ryan Crouser, Tara Davis-Woodhall and Alexis Holmes, who all train in Fayetteville, won titles.
Crouser, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and world champion who competed at Texas, won his 10th USA shot-put title with a throw of 74-9 3/4 to break his own meet and facility record of 74-1 3/4 set in 2020.
Davis-Woodhall, who is married to former Arkansas sprinter Hunter Woodhall and competed at Georgia and Texas, won the long jump with a career-best 23-6 3/4 leap that ranks No. 3 on the U.S. all-time indoor list.
Holmes, an SEC champion at Kentucky, won the 400 in a meet record 50.34 to break the mark of 50.12 set in 2012 by Sanya Richards-Ross.