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Hogs fall to Tigers in Sunday morning marathon match

ATHENS, Ga. — In a match that lasted four and a half hours, Arkansas fell in an early Sunday morning match to the Memphis Tigers 4-3.

In doubles, Arkansas came from behind to steal the point from Memphis, as the Tigers took an early advantage with a win on court three, 6-4.

Tied 6-6 on both court one and two, Arkansas was able to squeak by the Tigers to take the doubles point with 7-6 wins on both courts.

The duo of Jose Salazar and Josh Howard-Tripp defeated Andrew Watson and Ryan Peniston 7-6 to improve to 3-1 this season in doubles, while Adam Sanjurjo and Oscar Mesquida earned their first victory together this season with a 7-6 win over Kai Lemke and Matt Story.

In singles, the Tigers quickly evened things with a win on court two, as junior Sanjurjo fell to Peniston 6-1, 6-2.

Howard-Tripp would drop his second match of the season, falling to Pallares 6-4, 6-3 to give the Tigers the lead at 2-0.

Arkansas would respond with a win at the top spot, as No. 113 Salazar defeated Watson 6-4, 6-4, to improve to 3-1 in dual matches this season, 9-5 overall.

Mesquida would fall 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to Lemke after taking the first set, to give the Tigers the 3-2 lead.

The Razorbacks would pick up a win on court five, as freshman Alex Reco defeated Chris Patzanovsky 6-4, 6-3 to knot the match up at 3-3.

On the decisive court, P. Alonso would fall 6-7 in the first set then drop 6-3 in the second to give the Tigers the victory.

Arkansas will return to the court Monday morning to face the loser of the Georgia/Iowa match at 9 a.m. in the consolation match.

Memphis 4, Arkansas 3

Singles Results – Order of finish (2,4,1,3,5,6)
1. No. 113 Jose Salazar (AR) def. Andrew Watson (MEM) 6-4, 6-1
2. Ryan Peniston (MEM) def. Adam Sanjurjo (AR) 6-1, 6-2
3. Kai Lemke (MEM) def. Oscar Mesquida (AR) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
4. Jan Palleres (MEM) def. Josh Howard-Tripp (AR) 6-4, 6-3
5. Alex Reco (AR) def. Chris Patzonovsky (MEM) 6-4, 6-3
6. Felix Rauch (MEM) def. Pedro Alonso (AR) 7-6, 6-3

Doubles Results – Order of finish (3,1,2)
1. Adam Sanjurjo/Oscar Mesquida (AR) def. Kai Lemke/Matt Story 7-6
2. Jose Salazar/Josh Howard-Tripp (AR) def. Andrew Watson/Ryan Peniston (MEM) 7-6
3. No. 58 Jan Pallares/Felix Rauch (MEM) def. Branch Terrell/Alex Reco (AR) 6-4

Anderson glad to get win over Oklahoma State

By Razorback Sports Communications

FAYETTEVILLE — Daniel Gafford tipped in Anton Beard’s 8-footer with 15 seconds left to give the Hogs a 66-65 win against Oklahoma State in the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

In a game that saw neither team lead by more than one possession in the last 12 minutes, 17 seconds of the game, the Razorbacks won their 10th one possession game in the last 11 tries.

Oklahoma State jumped out on the Hogs, scoring nine-straight points to put pressure on Arkansas. The Razorbacks responded with their own form of pressure. Arkansas rattled off eight straight in a span of 44 seconds to pull within one early.

After senior guard Jaylen Barford hit the first shot for Arkansas, the Razorbacks were able to set up their full court press, causing two Cowboy turnovers, leading to Arkansas scores.

Oklahoma State used an 15-3 run of its own to extend the Cowboy lead to the largest of the game at 13. The Razorbacks would respond to cut it to a five-point deficit with a 10-2 run.

Coming off the bench for the third straight game, senior guard Daryl Macon provided a spark for the Razorbacks on the offensive end of the floor. Macon finished the first half with a game-high 13 points, going 5-of-9 from the field and 3-of-5 from behind the arc.

Oklahoma State would take a 40-32 lead into the half.

To begin the second half, the Razorbacks and Cowboys would go back and forth for the first three-plus minutes of the period.

Arkansas turned the pressure back up, forcing five turnovers in a span of less than three minutes to help Arkansas go on a 12-0 run and claim its first lead of the game at 51-50.

Following the Cowboys hit two free throws to reclaim the lead, freshman guard Darious Hall made a heads-up play to get the steal and score an easy lay-up.

For the final 12 minutes and 17 seconds of the game, neither team would hold a lead larger than one possession. Following two free throws by OSU, Arkansas found itself down 65-64 with 22 seconds play.

Game Notes
• The Razorbacks snapped a five-game losing streak against Oklahoma State, giving the Razorbacks their first victory against the Cowboys in 46 seasons.

• Arkansas improved to 31-6 in its last 37 games in Bud Walton Arena.

• The Razorbacks are tied for the fourth-most home wins in the country during the Mike Anderson era at 106.

• In the fifth annual #BIG12SEC Challenge, Arkansas is improved to 2-2 all-time in the event, including 2-0 in Bud Walton Arena.

Macon, Beard on Hogs’ 66-65 win over Cowboys

Daryl Macon led all scorers with 22 points and talked about it being his night along with teammate Anton Beard after win over OSU.

Cowboys’ Boynton on atmosphere causing problems

The sellout crowd at Bud Walton Arena on Saturday was loud and it made a difference, Cowboys coach Mike Boynton.

OSU’s Averette, McGriff talk about close loss to Arkansas

Oklahoma State players Brandon Averette and Cameron McGriff met with the media after the Cowboys’ 66-65 loss to Arkansas on Saturday night.

No. 2 Razorbacks take top spot in Razorback Invitational

FAYETTEVILLE — Facing a group of the nation’s best programs, including six top-10 teams, No. 2 Arkansas took first at the Razorback Invitational Saturday inside the Randal Tyson Track Center. 

“We had our senior leadership do a really nice job, even though they’re few in numbers,” said head coach Lance Harter. “They’re getting in to serve as the role model, and the youth is just following. By having those types of breakthroughs, the result it an overall great team performance.”

Sophomore Taylor Werner and junior Devin Clark were the only Razorbacks to take team titles on day two of the invitational, as Werner took the Mile while Clark laid claim to the 3,000 meters. Werner set a new personal record with a time of 4:39.52.

“She (Werner) is the constant competitor,” said Harter. “She has a very, very bright future in this business. To be so young and so bold is a unique combination.”

Other Notable Performances
Arkansas’ youth stepped up when needed most, as underclassmen combined for 10 top-10 finishes on Saturday, including sophomore Jada Baylark who broke her personal record in the 60-meters with a time of 7.24, finishing just behind LSU’s Kournie Johnson who finished at 7.18.

Senior Nikki Hiltz finished third in the 800-meters, while sophomore’s Carina Viljoen and Maddy Reed were the Razorbacks other top finishers, both placing fourth in the mile and 3,000-meters, respectively.

“The senior leadership creates the culture to the youth, that ‘hey, this is what is expected of you,” said Harter. “It makes everyone elevate. They’ve done a great job of keeping our youth and elevating them and helping them become a major factor at the Southeastern Conference Championships.”

Arkansas will head to the northeast next Friday and Saturday for the New York Armory in New York City.

Razorback Invitational
January 27, 2018
Randal Tyson Track Center (Fayetteville, Ark.)

Team Results (Top-5)
1- No. 2 Arkansas – 118
2- No. 4 USC – 82
3- No. 3 Georgia – 81
4- No. 9 LSU – 53.5
5- No. 24 Kansas State – 53

60 Meters Finals
2. Jada Baylark – 7.24
8. Kiara Parker – 7.35

60 Meters Prelims
2. Jada Baylark – 7.27
7. Kiara Parker – 7.36
16. Tamara Kuykendall – 7.57
24. Kayla Carter – 8.11

400 Meters Invitational
7. Morgan Burks-Magee – 54.12

400 Meters
5. Sydney Hammit – 55.37
15. Sydney Davis – 57.53
20. Jessica Dolezal – 1:03.80

800 Meters Invitational
3. Nikki Hiltz – 2:05. 16
8. Joy Ripslinger – 2:07.31

800 Meters
8. Ruth Wiggins – 2:10.62
14. Kailee Sawyer – 2:13.02
16. Emily Jeacock – 2:14.65
26. Tess Iler – 2:23.92

Mile Invitational
1. Taylor Werner – 4:39.52
4. Maddy Reed – 4:45.13

Mile
10. Claudia Verstraten – 5:05.86

3,000 Meters Invitational
1. Devin Clark – 9:21.20
4. Carina Viljoen – 9:30.85
6. Sydney Brown – 9:35.36
8. Rachel Nichwitz – 9:39.22

3,000 Meters
6. Greta Taylor – 10:09.21
7. Alex Ritchey – 10:09.43

60-Meter Hurdles Prelims
4. Janeek Brown – 8.18
5. Payton Chadwick – 8.19

60-Meter Hurdles Finals
5. Janeek Brown – 8.20
7. Payton Chadwick – 8.25

4-x-400 Meter Relay
4. Burks-Magee, Chadwick, Baylark, Parker – 3:36.44

World lead for Igbokwe in 400-meter at Razorback Invitational

FAYETTEVILLE — Seventh-ranked Arkansas closed out its stead at the Randal Tyson Track Center with several NCAA top-10 performances, including a world-leading 400-meter time by junior Obi Igbokwe.

A two-time national qualifier in the 400, Igbokwe took command of the two-lap sprint beating Southeastern Conference rivals Florida’s Kunle Fasasi and Texas A&M’s Mylik Kerley to the break. Igbokwe maintained his dominance on the field, distancing himself from his competition over the final 150-meters of the race, finishing in first-place with a PR, NCAA-leading and world-leading time of 45.72.

“He’s been working hard since we got back to school in September,” head coach Chris Bucknam said. “I’m really happy for Obi and I think there’s a lot more left in the tank. I’m proud of his effort after a tough, three-week stretch of training and starting the indoor season.”

Arkansas finished eighth in the team standings, scoring 45 points in the 11-team competition.

“It’s good thing for us to see there are a lot of good teams out there and if we’re going to win meets like this or the SEC Championships, we have to have all hands on deck,” Bucknam said. “We’re probably around 60 percent right now based on injuries, sickness and some cautious decisions with where we are racing three weeks in a row. We don’t like losing meets but it’s a good wake-up call for us to say ‘if we don’t have all hands on deck, we’re an average team.’ We have to get things together over the next month and we have a nice two-week stretch with no meets, which we really need right now.”

Off the track two-time combined events All-American Gabe Moore, earned a spot on the NCAA leader boards as the fifth-best heptathlete in the country with a PR of 5,777 points. Moore was powered to his improved score off a solid day one, which saw him jump to a personal best in the high jump and match his 60-meter PR of 7.02. He returned strong on day two, placing in the top-four in the remaining three events of the day, including a first-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. He remains the third-best heptathlete in Razorback history.

“That’s another personal best and just the tip of the iceberg for Gabe,” Bucknam said. “If you talk to him, there are a lot of places where he think he can improve. He’s made huge gains in the pole vault and hurdles from last year to this year and those are two pretty tough events in the multis. It’s just a sign of things to come when he really puts it together.”

Arkansas will break from competition next weekend, returning to the oval Feb. 9-10 at the Randal Tyson Track Center as the hosts of the Tyson Invitational.

Razorback Invitational
January 27, 2018
Randal Tyson Track Center (Fayetteville, Ark.)

60 Meters Prelims
17. Kevin Harris – 6.99

400 Meters Invitational
1. Obi Igbokwe – 45.72

400 Meters
2. Kemar Mowatt – 46.83
3. Jamarco Stephen – 47.27
5. Roy Ejiakuekwu – 47.59
8. John Winn – 48.16
12. Hunter Woodhall – 48.43
18. Travius Chambers – 48.74

800 Meters
9. Kieran Taylor – 1:51.92
10. Chase Pareti – 1:52.96
11. Reese Walters – 1:52.73
19. Colin O’Mara – 1:56.66

Mile Invitational
9. Kyle Hosting – 4:09.15

Mile
2. Kyle Levermore – 4:08.31

3,000 Meters
5. Preston Cates – 8:27.80
9. Graham Brown – 8:31.37

60-Meter Hurdles Prelims
4. Larry Donald – 7.92

60-Meter Hurdles Finals
4. Larry Donald – 7.92

4-x-400 Meter Relay
3. Arkansas A – Ejiakuekwu, Igbokwe, Mowatt, Stephen, 3:08.37
5. Arkansas B – Chambers, Winn, Woodhall, Donald, 3:09.27

Shot Put
8. Sam Kempka – 16.88m/55-4 3/4

Hogs travel to Athens for ITA Kickoff Weekend

FAYETTEVILLE — Part of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, Arkansas will be competing in Athens, Georgia, on Sunday in the first round against Memphis at 8 a.m. at the Dan Magill Tennis complex on the campus of the University of Georgia.

The winner of Sunday’s match will face the winner of the Georgia/Iowa match, being held following Arkansas’ match.

Sixty men’s teams will be competing throughout the country for the right to qualify for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships to be hosted in February by Washington.

The 15 universities hosting ITA Kick-Off Weekend events were designated as host sites in order of their year-end 2017 ITA team ranking.

Three visiting schools will travel to each host site for a four-team tournament.

The host school will meet the No. 4 seed, the No. 2 seed will play the No. 3 seed, and the winners will come back to play for a berth at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

So far this year, the Razorbacks are 1-2, with two losses to top-20 programs. Georgia enters the weekend as the only ranked team in the Athens regional, ranked No. 4 in the country in the latest rankings.

Schedule
Sun, Jan. 28

8 a.m., Memphis vs. Arkansas
Noon, Georgia vs. Iowa

Mon, Jan. 29
9 a.m., Men’s Consolation
1 p.m., Men’s Championship

Van Horn talks about highly-ranked team at media day

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn talked with the media Saturday morning about the Razorbacks’ high expectations for the season.

Freshmen lead record night in win over Georgia at Barnhill

FAYETTEVILLE — Freshman Sophia Carter set a program record score on the balance beam with a 9.975 to lead all Razorbacks on all events as No. 10 Arkansas downed No. 11 Georgia 197.175-196.125 inside Barnhill Arena Friday night.

“Even in training I could see we were starting to get polished,” said coach Mark Cook. “We just have to get in that zone a little bit more. We were close to it tonight, but owning some of those landings. We’re not quite there, but we’re moving in that direction.”

The win was the first of the season for the Razorbacks and just the third time in program history Arkansas has beaten the Bulldogs.

First Rotation: Georgia Bars: 49.175, Arkansas Vault: 49.100
Led by freshman Sarah Shaffer, who scored a 9.875 and tied her career high on any event, the Razorbacks trailed by the slimmest of margins after the first rotation. Seniors Braie Speed and Amanda Wellick were the other Razorbacks with scores over 9.800 as each scored a 9.850 and a 9.825, respectively.

Second Rotation: Arkansas Bars: 49.175, Georgia Vault: 48.875
Arkansas took the lead it never relinquished in the second rotation. Shaffer and Speed led the Razorbacks in the second event with scores of 9.875 each. Four of the five scorers for Arkansas tallied scores over 9.800 as Wellick and Sophomore Jessica Yamzon recorded scores of 9.850 and 9.825, respectively.

Third Rotation: Arkansas Beam: 49.425, Georgia Floor: 49.100
Freshman Sophia Carter broke the school beam record with a score of 9.975 while Yamzon and fellow sophomore Michaela Burton tied the previous record with scores of 9.950 each. Coming into the night, the program-record score on the balance beam was 9.950 set seven times in program history, last by Katherine Grable and Jaime Pisani at the 2012 NCAA Championships. The score of 49.425 on beam was the second best beam score in team history.

“We’ve been practicing it,” said Carter. “My coaches have been telling me, just do what you can do and go out there and be you. I was just happy to go out there and deliver and do that tonight.”

Fourth Rotation: Arkansas Floor: 49.475 Georgia Beam: 48.975
Arkansas secured the victory and its first score over 197 since 2016 on the floor. All six athletes posted scores over 9.800 as Carter led the Razorback on her second-consecutive event with a 9.950. Shaffer recorded a 9.900 while Yamzon, Burton and sophomore Hailey Garner all tallied 9.875’s to lead the Razorbacks to a final score of 197.175, its seventh score over 197 in program history.

“All season we’ve been talking about just being us out there and doing what we do,” said Carter. “We knew we could do this. Each performance everyone went out there and knew they could do their best and we got that 197.”

Among all-around performers, Yamzon posted a score of 39.425 while Shaffer recorded a 39.350 as both broke their career highs.

Up Next
The Razorbacks head back on the road for a Southeastern Conference battle at No. 7 Alabama next Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Hogs shine in field events at first day of ‘Invitational’

FAYETTEVILLE — No. 7 Arkansas opened its weekend strong at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville off outstanding performances in the long jump and heptathlon.

South Plains college transfer Laquan Nairn continued his streak of horizontal jumps success, placing in the top-three in for the third-consecutive week as the bronze medalist in the long jump.

Nairn jumped a to a lifetime best mark of 7.87m/25-10 on his first trip down the runway, which moved him up the NCAA leader boards to No. 4.

After fouling his second attempt he elected to pass his remaining attempts with his first jump holding strong through the competition for third place.

Another former South Plains college student-athlete Gabe Moore also had a great day for the Hogs, closing out the day ranked No. 2 in the Razorback Invitational heptathlon competition behind 2017 NCAA indoor medalist Karl Saluri of Georgia.

Moore began his day matching his PR in the 60-meter hurdles with a 7.02 performance. The two-time All-American went on to see success on the long jump runway and in the shot put, capping his evening as top heptathlon high jumper with a PR of 2.02m/6-7 in the event.

Moore will return to the heptathlon tomorrow morning at 11:35 a.m. with the 60-meter hurdles.

Events to Watch (Saturday):
• 1:02 p.m. | 400 Meters Invitational
Featured Razorbacks: No. 1 Obi Igbokwe (PR: 45.73*) and Rhayko Schwartz (PR: 47.36*)

• 4:03 p.m. | 4-x-400 Meter Relay Invitational

Saturday’s live television window on the SEC network will begin at 1:02 p.m. CT with the men’s 400-meter invitational.

Razorback Invitational
January 26, 2018
Randal Tyson Track Center

200 Meters
9. Kevin Harris – 21.41
10. Kris Hari – 21.64

High Jump
10. Rubin Owens – 2.06m/6-9
12. Brendon Rivera – 2.06m/6-9

Long Jump
2. Laquan Nairn – 7.87m/25-10
10. Harrison Schrage – 7.31m/23-11 3/4

Weight Throw
7. Erich Sullins – 18.37m/60-3 1/4

Heptathlon
Gabe Moore – 3,263 points (Day one)
2. 60 Meters – 7.02 (875 pts.)
3. Long Jump – 7.17m/23-6 1/4 (854 pts.)
3. Shot Put – 13.73m/45-0 1/2 (712 pts.)
1. High Jump – 2.02m/6-7 1/2 (822 pts.)
60-Meter Hurdles
Pole Vault
1,000 Meters