Razorbacks roll in outdoor season opener Saturday as Schwartz returns

FAYETTEVILLE — In a steady downpour that lasted all afternoon, Arkansas pieced together 25 top-10 finishes, including seven event winners, at the Arkansas Spring Invitational on Saturday at John McDonnell Field.

On the track, the men’s 4×100-meter relay got things started for the Razorbacks as Josh Oglesby, Rashad Boyd, Kris Hari, and Hunter Woodhall carried the baton to a first-place finish running 40.79.

Kevin Wilkinson ran a huge final lap to surge to a third-place finish in the 1,500-meter running 4:07.93, while teammate Reese Walters was close behind in fifth-place in a time of 4:12.03.

Carl Elliot (14.02), Shakiel Chattoo (14.02), Tre’Bien Gilbert (14.15), and Gabe Moore (14.59) gave Arkansas a 1-2-3-4 finish in the 110-meter hurdles with three of the four turning in personal-best marks in the event. The lone outlier was Chattoo who holds a PR of 13.79 from last year’s Texas Relays.

Oglesby returned to the track for a third-place finish in the 100-meters running a collegiate PR of 10.53 seconds.

Rhayko Schwartz made his return to the track following a redshirt season to heal an injury last year. The junior survived the event unscathed, winning the 400-meters in 47.21.

Travean Caldwell and Nick Hilson ran out front the entire way in the 400-meter hurdles, with Caldwell edging out Hilson 52.14 to 53.18. Caldwell’s time was a personal-best for the transfer from Arkansas-Baptist.

Rashad Boyd’s time of 21.15 in the 200-meters was good for third-place as the freshman posted a collegiate PR in the event. Boyd was joined by Hunter Woodhall in fourth at 21.33, Kris Hari in fifth at 21.56, and John Winn in sixth at 21.59. Woodhall’s time was a personal-best for the sophomore from Syracuse, Utah.

The Razorbacks finished 4-5-6 in the invitational section of the Invitational 800-meters led by Chase Pareti in 1:53.26. Eugene Grayson III and Colin O’Mara followed close behind in times of 1:56.17 and 1:59.56, respectively.

Kieran Taylor turned in a personal-best in the 1,500-meters running 3:58.10 in the invitational section for a fifth-place finish.

The “A” squad of John Winn, Hunter Woodhall, Rhayko Schwartz, and Travean Caldwell teamed up to win the 4×400-meter relay in 3:17.13.

In the field, Sam Kempka took care of business in the ring, winning the shot put with a best throw of 16.79m (55-1), while Erich Sullins handled the field in the discus with his winning mark of 52.97m (173-9).

Arkansas will return to action next week in Austin, Texas, as the Razorbacks compete in the 92nd Texas Relays.