Arkansas shows depth in 400-meters in qualifying meet Friday

FAYETTEVILLE — Among a trio of victories in the Arkansas Qualifier on Friday, the Razorbacks produced a 1-2 finish in a pair of events and displayed their depth in the 400-meters.

Racing in Winston-Salem, the Arkansas distance medley improved its time and standing on the current collegiate list.

Roman Turner and Keshawn Andrews were the first pair of Razorbacks to accomplish a 1-2 finish on the night, with times of 6.75 and 6.77 in the 60-meter. Then Gilbert Boit and Graham Brown completed the feat in the 3,000-meter. Boit clocked 8:07.12 with Brown nearing his career best with an 8:22.88.

Jalen Brown established a career best of 46.27 to lead a 2-3-4-5-6 performance by the Razorbacks in the 400-meter.

Following were Hunter Woodhall (46.92), James Milholen (47.02), Nick Hilson (47.16) and Lesley Mahlakoane (47.34). Brown’s effort moves him to No. 10 on this season’s collegiate list.

“It was a good pre-meet to the SEC Championships,” said Arkansas men’s assistant coach Doug Case. “The 400-meter group ran really well, and I think we had four PRs from them tonight. Now we have a couple of sprinters who rank among the top 10 in the NCAA 400-meter list. All the short sprinters and hurdles ran right around their best times, it was a good tune-up for SECs.

“Gilbert Boit ran a nice time in the 3,000-meter, which will get him into the fast heat in the conference meet. We also had a group race in the distance medley relay and those guys ran a time that puts them fifth in the nation, which is a good performance when you convert the time over. We expect to have a really good SEC meet.”

In North Carolina, the Razorbacks clocked 9:39.16 as runner-up to BYU (9:38.02) and ahead of Virginia Tech (9:40.07) and Washington (9:43.45). The crew running for Arkansas included Luke George (2:59.08), Travean Caldwell (47.93), Kieran Taylor (1:51.66) and Cameron Griffith (4:00.48).

With the event being run on a flat 200m track, the time for Arkansas will convert to 9:31.40 and currently ranks the team fifth on the NCAA descending order list. More DMR races are scheduled for Saturday at Notre Dame.

In the 60m hurdles at the Arkansas Qualifier, the Razorbacks placed four in the final. Carl Elliott III won the race in 7.81 as Tre’Bien Gilbert finished third in 7.89. Then multi-event athletes Daniel Spejcher (8.22) and Tyler Brendel (8.28) finished fifth and seventh.

Tylin Jackson set a PR of 21.09 as runner-up in the 200m, finishing as the top collegian, behind a 20.84 for alum Kenzo Cotton. Reese Walters ran 1:53.86 to place second in the 800m.

Multi-eventers Etamar Bhastekar and Markus Ballengee both cleared 16-0¾ in the pole vault. After the hurdles final, Brendel long jumped 22-2 ¼ with Spejcher reaching a distance of 21-11½.

Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.