FAYETTEVILLE — No. 1 Arkansas opened its 2019 campaign with a solid showing at the Arkansas Invitational Friday night at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track.

“It was a great opener,” said coach Lance Harter. “We were able to convince everyone that Christmas break is over. Our vaulters exceeded any expectations by anyone – which obviously there’s tremendous talent in that group.

“We had some fantastic performances in the 60-meters and the deuce (200-meters) that were a pleasant surprise. In the distances, we did some things that I think were more tactical than they were about time.

“All in all, I think our peers have chosen us to be No. 1 (in the rankings), today I think we acted like that.”

Arkansas had a handful of performances that will likely finish the weekend in the top-10 of the NCAA track & field rankings including the second-best vault in the world this year by Lexi Jacobus who cleared 4.49m (14-8.75) to take the women’s pole vault competition.

On the track, the Razorbacks were led by performances from Kiara Parker (60-meters), Payton Chadwick (200-meters), Tiana Wilson (400-meters), Meghan Underwood (800-meters), and Carina Viljoen (1-Mile), all of whom won their respective events Friday afternoon.

Of the aforementioned performances, Parker tied for the NCAA lead entering this weekend running 7.26 setting a new personal-best, while Chadwick’s time in the 200-meters would’ve led the nation entering today’s meet after she clocked a 23.35 in the one-lap race. Viljoen ran the fastest mile in Division I with her time of 4:47.11.

Arkansas had several freshmen make their Razorback debuts on the track Friday night.

“I think that some of them were a little bit glassy-eyed and surprised by the level of competition. I’ve been trying to portray to them ‘understand this was just an opener, you haven’t even seen the SEC teams yet,’” Harter said. “Some are going to be in for a rude awakening, others I think took care of business, and I think that it is going to be a journey that will be a week-to-week progression, otherwise they’re going to get left behind.”

The Razorback vaulters will be in action next week as they travel to Reno, Nev. for the USA Pole Vault Summit Jan. 18-19.

The rest of the team will take the week off to prepare for the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 25-26 at Randal Tyson Indoor Track.

NEW ORLEANS, LA — Following a runner-up finish at the 2018 NCAA Indoor meet, the Arkansas women’s track & field team will open the 2019 indoor campaign as the preseason No. 1 team as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Thursday afternoon.

The Razorbacks claimed the top spot in a preseason poll for the second time in program history following their first appearance on top during last year’s outdoor preseason poll.

The Razorbacks are followed by familiar foes Florida State, Texas A&M, USC, and Oregon rounding out the top-five.

Along with Arkansas and Texas A&M, nine additional Southeastern Conference teams including No. 6 Florida, No. 7 LSU, No. 8 Georgia, No. 10 Kentucky, No. 13 Alabama, No. 14 South Carolina, and No. 17 Tennessee earned a spot in the preseason polls.

The SEC had the most teams in the top-20 with nine programs overall and were followed by the Pac-12 with four, the ACC, Big 12 and Mountain West with two teams apiece and the Big 10 with one program.

The national team rankings are compiled by a mathematical formula based on national descending order lists. The purpose and methodology of the rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national team race.

Rankings points do not equate with NCAA Championships team points.

Preseason rankings will include marks from 2018, and the National Team Computer Rankings will continue to do so through the third regular-season edition.

Arkansas will open the year this Friday at home, hosting the Arkansas Invitational at the Randal Tyson Track Center.