Razorbacks’ men’s team has solid first day at SEC Championships

Full Results (PDF) | Decathlon Results (PDF)

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A day after sending six through prelims and into the finals, Arkansas advanced seven more and picked up 28 points on Friday at the 2017 SEC Outdoor Championships at Cregger Track.

The Razorbacks, who are looking for the program’s 16th SEC Triple Crown, will enter Saturday in a tie for fourth place with 31 points. Arkansas’ seven qualifiers on Friday give it 13 in seven events over the past two days, setting up for a very eventful championship-Saturday.

“We’ve got our hands full, but I can’t say enough about the fight of our team,” said coach Chris Bucknam. “They are giving it all out there and I couldn’t be prouder. We’re battling through some injuries but anything can happen tomorrow. This team keeps amazing me with their fight.”

Arkansas’ first points on Friday were delivered again by an underclassman, as freshman Harrison Schrage finished fourth in the long jump.

Schrage came up clutch on a pair of occasions, beginning with his third and final jump of the prelims in which he was able to make the nine-man final after faulting his first two times.

After faulting twice to open the finals, Schrage delivered in the clutch again with a huge jump of 25-11½. Nearly a foot over his PR set at the SEC Relays, Schrage’s final jump captured five critical points.

“Going into my last jump I was in ninth place and that’s worth zero points. There was no way I was going to score zero points for my team,” said Schrage, who beat three recent Indoor long jump All-Americans with his fourth-place finish. “It feels good because I was injured during indoor season and that was tough. I know what I’m capable of and outdoor season has been a lot of fun as I’ve gotten healthier.”

Just moments after Schrage registered five points, junior Derek Jacobus won the decathlon 1500-meter race for the second straight year at the SEC Outdoor Championships.

Jacobus’ win was the second by a Razorback over the final three events, as the decathlon quartet combined to pick up 14 critical points via positions 4-7 in the standings.

Behind five personal-bests over the 10 events, Jacobus just missed the podium as Arkansas’ top-finisher in fourth place with a PR of 7,635 points.

Sophomore Gabe Moore produced four PRs en route to his fifth-place decathlon finish with 7,546 points. Moore was Arkansas top finisher in the shot put, discus and javelin.

Highlighted by a win in the pole vault, senior Brad Culp placed sixth (7,279 points) while classmate Lane Austell finished seventh.

All four Arkansas decathletes were in the top eight in each of the final four events on Friday, while the group achieved 12 PRs over the two days.

“When your achieving personal-bests at a championship meet, it doesn’t get much better than that,” said Bucknam.

Arkansas’ final nine points of the second day came in the 3000-meter steeplechase from the trio of seniors Aidan Swain and Cale Wallace along with sophomore Kyle Levermore.

Running a PR of 8:59.00, Swain found his way into the top five while Wallace was right behind him in sixth place. Wallace’s sixth place finish was marred by a hard fall on the final lap, but his senior leadership and toughness was on full display as he raced to beat out a pack of runners despite the fall.

In hot pursuit of his senior mentors, Levermore crushed his personal-best by over 11 seconds with a time of 9:05.97 to take seventh.

The Razorbacks suffered a big blow early in the evening session when 2016 SEC outdoor high jump champion Ken LeGassey was scratched before the event due to a hamstring injury. LeGassey also finished third at this past February’s SEC Indoor Championships.

Team Standings
1. Alabama – 54
2. Texas A&M – 38
3. Georgia – 35
4. Arkansas – 31
4. Ole Miss – 31
6. Missouri – 28
7. Florida – 23.5
8. South Carolina – 18
9. LSU – 15
10. Tennessee – 12
11. Kentucky – 11
12. Mississippi State – 9
13. Auburn – 6.5

Decathlon
4. Derek Jacobus – 7,635 points – PR
5. Gabe Moore – 7,546 points
6. Brad Culp – 7,279 points
7. Lane Austell – 7,179 points

3,000 Meter Steeplechase Finals
5. Aidan Swain – 8:59.00 – PR
6. Cale Wallace – 9:02.60
7. Kyle Levermore – 9:05.97 – PR

Long Jump Prelims & Finals
4. Harrison Schrage – 25-11½ – PR
9. Andreas Trajkovski – 25-1¼
10. Travonn White – 24-8¼

Moving On
The threat of thunder and lightning crept inside the eight-mile limit just before the start of the evening session, but the brief 35-minute delay could not slow down Arkansas’ hurdlers. Less than 24 hours removed from advancing to Saturday’s final in the 400-meter hurdles, the junior duo of Larry Donald and Kemar Mowatt advanced out of the 110-meter hurdles. Donald’s time of 13.97 set a new PR and landed him in eighth while Mowatt held onto the last qualifying spot after running in the first heat. Arkansas was the only program to send three to the finals of the 400-meter hurdles Thursday night and is one of two to send a pair to the 200-meter hurdle finals.

Arkansas ran its prelim qualifier success to 11-for-13 after three entries in the 1500 meters earned automatic spots. Sophomore Cameron Griffith led things off in the first heat with a time of 3:46.86 to earn one of the auto bids and finish third overall in the prelims. The 2017 SEC Indoor 3,000-meter champ, junior Jack Bruce was an auto-qualifier in heat two, while sophomore SEC cross country champ Alex George was the first finisher in the final heat. Arkansas’ three in the finals will be the second most from one team in the field.

The 400 and 100-meter races closed out the prelims, as one Razorback advanced to Saturday’s final in each. Junior Kenzo Cotton posted a 10.24 in the 100 meters in the second heat, which held up through the two following heats. A day after advancing to the finals in the 200, senior Josh Washington’s PR of 10.33 was just one spot off from making him a double-qualifier heading into Saturday. Sophomore Obi Igbokwe was the top non-automatic qualifier in the 400 meters with a time of 45.73 that he delivered in the fifth and final heat.

110 Meter Hurdles Prelims
8. Larry Donald – 13.97q – PR
9. Kemar Mowatt – 14.11q

100 Meter Prelims
7. Kenzo Cotton – 10.24q
10. Josh Washington – 10.33 – PR
15. Roy Ejiakuekwu – 10.46 – PR

400 Meter Prelims
5. Obi Igbokwe – 45.73q
14. Eric Janise – 46.53
15. Rhayko Schwartz – 46.55

1,500 Meter Prelims
3. Cameron Griffith – 3:46.86Q
5. Alex George – 3:47.49Q
16. Jack Bruce – 3:51.09Q
22. Ethan Moehn – 3:52.73

Complete Heptathlon Results
Derek Jacobus
4. 100 Meters – 10.77 (912 points)
3. Long Jump – 23-11 (883 points) – PR
6. Shot Put – 42-2 (658 points) – PR
4. High Jump – 6-4 (740 points)
2. 400 Meters – 48.34 (893 points) – PR
10. 110 Meter Hurdles – 15.48 (792 points) – PR
6. Discus – 132-7 (673 points)
5. Pole Vault – 15-5 (819 points) – PR
7. Javelin – 155-11 (552 points)
1. 1500 Meters – 4:34.79 (713 points)

Gabe Moore
5. 100 Meters – 11.01 (912 points)
5. Long Jump – 22-9 (797 points) – PR
2. Shot Put – 46-10 (745 points) – PR
7. High Jump – 6-2¾ (714 points)
5. 400 Meters – 49.52 (837 points)
9. 110 Meter Hurdles – 15.14 (833 points) – PR
2. Discus – 143-9 (743 points)
8. Pole Vault – 14-1 (702 points)
4. Javelin – 188-9 (701 points) – PR
6. 1500 Meters – 4:50.50 (616 points)

Brad Culp
8. 100 Meters – 11.20 (817 points)
9. Long Jump – 21-9 1/2 (729 points)
5. Shot Put – 45-3¾ (717 points)
6. High Jump – 6-2¾ (714 points)
8. 400 Meters – 51.10 (765 points) – PR
6. 110 Meter Hurdles – 14.98 (852 points) – PR
7. Discus – 124-10 (625 points)
1. Pole Vault – 16-0¾ (880 points)
6. Javelin – 165-3 (594 points)
7. 1500 Meters – 4:55.53 (586 points)

Lane Austell
6. 100 Meters – 11.05 (850 points)
10. Long Jump – 21-7¼ (716 points)
11. Shot Put – 38-7½ (592 points)
9. High Jump – 6-0½ (661 points)
6. 400 Meters – 50.59 (788 points)
4. 110 Meter Hurdles – 14.82 (871 points)
8. Discus – 122-0 (607 points)
6. Pole Vault – 15-1 (790 points)
5. Javelin – 172-5 (626 points) – PR
4. 1500 Meters – 4:40.32 (678 points)