Arkansas stuck at 16th in NCAA Indoors headed to final day

Arkansas produced a pair of sixth place efforts on the second day of the NCAA Indoor Championships while three Razorbacks advanced to Saturday finals during qualifying prelims inside Randal Tyson Track Center.

Through seven scored finals, LSU and Georgia are currently tied with 20 points each, followed by Florida State (17), USC (16), North Dakota State (15) and Oregon (13).

In qualifying for Saturday finals, the Ducks lead with five while three schools followed with four each for LSU, Florida and North Carolina A&T.

Arkansas currently has six points and is tied for 16th place.

The distance medley relay posted a time of 9:33.65 to place sixth and earn three points for Arkansas. The foursome included Reese Walters (2:58.61), James Milholen (45.85), Jadon Bartholomew (1:49.98) and Andrew Kibet (3:59.21).

Oregon won the race in a meet record of 9:19.98, topping the 9:27.27 clocking the Ducks set in 2016.

Finishing behind Oregon were Ole Miss (9:20.75) and Texas (9:23.73).

Ryan Brown reached a distance of 25-8¼ (7.83) in the third round of the long jump to collect three team points with a sixth-place finish.

After winning the high jump at 7-6½ (2.30), LSU’s JuVaughn Harrison had a career best of 27-8¾ (8.45) to claim the long jump as well over Florida State’s Isaac Grimes (27-4¾ | 8.35) and Carey McLeod of Tennessee (27-1¼ | 8.26).

Just missing an opportunity to score in the heptathlon, Daniel Spejcher survived the seven-event competition with a score of 5,630 points to place ninth, just 23 points out of eighth place.

Second day events included marks of 8.31 in the 60m hurdles (905), a pole vault of 15-3 ½ (807) and a 2:47.20 in the 1,000m (795).

Etamar Bhastekar hit a pair of hurdles, posting a time of 10.00 (541), as three entrants did not finish the race. Then Bhastekar missed his only attempt at 16-3 ¼ (4.96) and retired from the competition.

In a super-fast 5,000m final, won by Iowa State’s Wesley Kiptoo in a meet record of 13:23.77, the top 11 finishers all set career best times.

This included Razorback Jacob McLeod in 10^th place with a 13:39.50, which ranks him No. 5 on the UA all-time list.

Finishing 12th and 13th were Gilbert Boit (13:46.48) and Amon Kemboi (13:50.10) while Matt Young did not finish.

A pair of Razorbacks qualified for the final of the 60m hurdles as Phillip Lemonious cruised to a career best of 7.60, making him the second-fastest performer in Arkansas history behind the school record of 7.45 set by Omar McLeod.

Also reaching the final was Tre’Bien Gilbert, who ran 7.43.

Kieran Taylor earned an automatic qualification to the 800m final as his 1:49.01 placed him second in his prelim heat.