SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Arkansas wrapped up competition at the West Prelims on Saturday night by advancing 11 athletics to the 2019 NCAA Track and Field Championships in Austin.
Arkansas’ 11 entries to the national championships are tied for the sixth-most in the nation this season.
The Razorbacks locked-up a spot at the NCAA Championships in the 4×100-meter relay to open action on the track Saturday afternoon.
From the gun, it was Josh Oglesby out of the blocks who handed off to Rashad Boyd who passed to Tre’Bien Gilbert who carried the baton to Roy Ejiakuekwu capping the one-lap relay in 39.64 — the fifth-fastest in the West — to automatically qualify for the national meet in Austin, Texas.
Arkansas made it 2-for-2 on relays as it qualified its 4×400-meter relay through to the final site as well. John Winn, Hunter Woodhall, Travean Caldwell, and Rhayko Schwartz ran to the tune of 3:05.86 – the eighth-fastest time on the night.
A 2018 First-Team All-American in the 1,500-meters, Cameron Griffith will look to add another honor to his resume as he advanced to the NCAA Championships in the event earning his spot by way of an auto-Q finish.
Griffith ran 3:41.36 finishing third in his heat to earn a spot in the meet. Ethan Moehn who advanced to the quarterfinal, finished 18th in a personal-best time of 3:44.53.
True Freshman Rashad Boyd ran to a lifetime-best 20.78 in the 200-meters to advance to the NCAA meet. Boyd’s time is a lifetime-best and was the second-fastest time qualifier on the night in the quarterfinal.
Carl Elliot III fell two spots shy of advancing to the NCAA meet in the 110-meter hurdles. Elliot III ran 13.99 to finish 14th-overall.
Gilbert Boit, Matt Young, and Cameron Griffith gave valiant efforts in the 5,000-meters with Boit ultimately missing out on doubling at the NCAA meet (10k/5k) by one one-hundredth of a second (0.01).
Boit finished sixth in his heat missing an auto-Q position by one spot, trailing BYU’s Clayton Young (14:07.98) by a mere one one-hundredth of a second (0.01) finishing at 14:07.99.
Young finished 33rd in 14:20.32 while Griffith took 37th in 14:26.07.
Sam Kempka competed in the shot put, finishing 19th with a mark of 18.63m (61-1.50).
