Baylark qualifies for 200-meter finals at SEC Championships

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — With only a few athletes in action on the opening day of the SEC Outdoor Championships, Jada Baylark took advantage of her opportunity in the 200-meters posting a near-lifetime best in the event for No. 4 Arkansas.

Coach Lance Harter:

“We only had a few events on the track on day one. Ragan came to me and said ‘It’s my senior year, I want to run the 10,000-meters’. So we gave her an opportunity to compete, it didn’t go quite as planned, but she’ll have another opportunity in the steeplechase tomorrow night. Jada [Baylark] advancing to the final of the women’s 200-meters is huge, I’m proud of how she ran today.”

The Razorbacks competed in three events Friday at Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium, the prelims of the 200-meters and 800-meters and the 10K to cap the night.

The 200-meter prelims featured sophomore Jada Baylark who raced her way into the final with a time of 22.96 – the second-fastest time ever by the Little Rock native.

Baylark led a group of four that competed in the prelims including Kiara Parker who finished 15th with a personal-best time of  23.19 and Tamara Kuykendall who finished 19th in prelims with a personal-best time of 23.66.

In the women’s 800-meters, Arkansas’ lone athlete in preliminary action, Kailee Sawyer, finished 14th running 2:12.36

Regan Hime finished 11th in the women’s 10K posting a time of 37:01.42.

Arkansas will return to Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium for day two of the SEC Outdoor Championships with the first event for the Razorbacks slated for 6:30 p.m. CT in the 100-meter hurdles.

For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.

SEC Outdoor Championships
Friday Results

Women’s 200-meter prelims
8. Jada Baylark – 22.96q
15. Kiara Parker – 23.19
19. Tamara Kuykendall – 23.66

Women’s 800-meter prelims
14. Kailee Sawyer – 2:12.36

Women’s 10,000-meters
11. Regan Hime -37:01.42