The Arkansas men’s track and field team took second place at the NCAA Indoor Championships on Saturday at The Track at New Balance in Boston.
The top-ranked Razorbacks finished behind second-ranked Texas Tech, which won the title with 50.5 team points to Arkansas’ 41.
The championship came down to the final events. Arkansas led Texas Tech by 1.5 points entering the 200 meters. The Red Raiders’ Terrence Jones, the NCAA leader in the event, took first place for 10 points.
Arkansas’ Lance Lang finished seventh for 2 points.
That meant Arkansas was behind Texas Tech by 5.5 points entering the final event, the 1,600-meter relay. The Razorbacks' team of Connor Washington, Lance Lang, TJ Tomlyanovich and Steven McElroy finished eighth with a time of 3 minutes, 4.77 seconds to get 1 point. The Texas Tech team finished fourth for 5 points, enough to keep the Razorbacks from claiming the team title.
Arkansas entered the meet with 17 entries in nine events. Razorback athletes failed to qualify for finals in two events Friday: The 60 meters and the 60 hurdles. Eight Arkansas athletes or relay teams scored points, each in a different event.
Arkansas had two individual champions and a runner-up. Wayne Pinnock won the long jump title with a personal-best leap of 27 feet, 6 3/4 inches Friday. It was the third NCAA title for the Tennessee transfer.
Romaine Beckford won gold in the high jump, clearing 7-5 1/4 on his third attempt. It was a personal best, a facility record and equaled the highest clearance in the NCAA this season, also by Beckford.
It was the second indoor title for the Jamaica native, who won the event in 2023 when he was at South Florida.
Roje Stona took silver in shot put with a personal-best throw of 67-2 1/4.
Arkansas won the women's side of the meet for the team's second straight national title.
Scoring breakdown
Long jump: Wayne Pinnock, first place (27-6 3/4), 10 points
5,000: Peter Maru, fifth place (13:30.51), 4 points
Distance medley relay: Elias Schreml, William Spencer, Riley Wells, Ben Shearer, fifth place (9:28.88), 4 points
High jump: Romaine Beckford, first place (7-5 1/4), 10 points
Heptathlon: Marcus Weaver, eighth place (5,859), 1 point
Shot put: Roje Stona, second place (67-2 1/4), 8 points
200: Lance Lang, seventh place (20.95), 2 points
1,600 relay: Connor Washington, Lance Lang, TJ Tomlyanovich, Steven McElroy, eighth place (3:04.77), 1 point