James Karanu Shines in Mile at Snowy Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Senior James Karanu highlighted the Arkansas Invitational Saturday afternoon by running a sub-four minute mile. The time of 3:59.35 was Karanu's first attempt in the mile as a Razorback.
"My goal was to break four minutes, because I have been looking for it," Karanu said. "I have been training really hard and this is something very exciting and I praise God for that."
Head coach John McDonnell was impressed with the job of the Karanu in the mile.
"This was his first mile... period, and he broke four minutes," McDonnell said. "He has run 1,500 meters of course, but for as a very low key of a meet as this was, it was great that he did it. The thing about James is that school and running is serious business to him. He does exactly what you tell him, and those are the guys that are successful."
The Hogs continued to improve setting personal records in the triad meet between Tulsa and Missouri Southern.
In the sprints, freshman Fred Talley showed his speed on another surface other than a football field. He won the 60m dash with a time of 6.89 seconds.
In the 60m hurdles, Sean Lightfoot proved he is still one of the fastest sprinters on the team with a first place finish. In the 200m, Chandun O'Neal showed a burst of speed in the final straightaway to win. In the 400m, Samuel Glover showed his speed in something other than the hurdles with a first place finish.
In his first attempt in the 800m, Ryan Stanley provisionally qualified. Along with Karanu's automatic qualifying time in the mile, 1999 All-American Murray Link improved his personal best mark in the mile by six seconds to post a 4:05.17.
In the 3,000m, Sharif Karie continued to dominate winning and provisionally qualifying with a time of 8:10.13.
The Razorbacks continued to dominate in the field events. Adding to the mix of long jumpers, freshman Ramon Washington provisionally qualified with a leap of 25-5.75.
Melvin Lister continued to show his dominance in the triple jump with a leap of 53-00.25 winning first place.
Marcus Clavelle showed a seven-inch improvement from last weekend with a throw of 60-08.5.
"It was overall a good meet," McDonnell said. "There were some areas that we could have done better in. James Karanu performance was the best. Ramon Washington in the long jump was a real surprise and that is what we are going to need. Ryan Stanley and Nathan Knowles in the 800m were really good. We just have to keep on going. We have a long way to go."
The Hogs will travel to Joplin, Mo. for the Missouri Southern Invitational Saturday.  
Men's Results from the Arkansas Invitational

Preliminaries EVENT 1 MEN'S 60 METER DASH
  Heat 1: (w:NWI): 1. Samuel Glover, Arkansas 7.06; 2. Sean Lightfoot,
Arkansas 7.16; 3. Sean Szafarz, Tulsa 7.60.
  Heat 2: (w:NWI): 1. Fred Talley, Arkansas 6.96; 2. Sedrick Lusk, Tulsa
7.03; 3. Seth Isringhausen, MSU 7.16; 4. Carlos mcNeary, Unattached 7.21.
  Heat 3: (w:NWI): 1. Chandun O'Neal, Arkansas 7.02; 2. Branon Vaughn,
Tulsa 7.23.
  Heat 4: (w:NWI): 1. Trey Runnels, Tulsa 6.97; 2. Merrick Woodard, Tulsa
7.08; 3. Lamonte Styles, MSU 7.27; 4. Jerrold Smith, Tulsa 7.62.

Finals EVENT 1 MEN'S 60 METER DASH
 (w:NWI): 1. Fred Talley, Arkansas 6.89; 2. Trey Runnels, Tulsa 6.99; 3.
 Sedrick Lusk, Tulsa 7.00; 4. Chandun O'Neal, Arkansas 7.02; 5. Merrick
 Woodard, Tulsa 7.07.

Finals EVENT 3 MEN'S 200 METER DASH
 1. Chandun O'Neal, Arkansas 22.19 w:NWI; 2. Derron Davis, Tulsa 22.33
w:NWI; 3. Kevin Baker, Arkansas 22.42 w:NWI; 4. Jason Roland, Tulsa 22.94 w:NWI;
5. Carlos mcNeary, Unattached 23.42 w:NWI; 6. Lamonte Styles, MSU 23.59
w:NWI; 7.  Sean Szafarz, Tulsa 24.45 w:NWI; 8. Jay Norwood, MSU 25.31 w:NWI.

Finals EVENT 4 MEN'S 400 METER DASH
 1. Samuel Glover, Arkansas 48.71; 2. Josh Landreath, Arkansas 49.38; 3.
Clint  Small, Unattached 49.43; 4. Greg Johnson, Tulsa 50.46; 5. Dan Culp, MSU
55.25; 6. Jay Norwood, MSU 56.59.

Finals EVENT 5 MEN'S 800 METER RUN
 1. A.J. Ellison, Unattached 1:49.91; 2. Ryan Stanley, Arkansas 1:50.35;
3. Nathan Knowles, Arkansas 1:51.33; 4. Joe Vaughn, Arkansas 1:53.42; 5.
Shawn McCullough, Tulsa 1:54.49; 6. Derrek Sparks, Tulsa 1:54.82; 7. Jeff
Moran, Arkansas 1:56.66; 8. Brian Erwin, Tulsa 1:57.59; 9. Chad Grundy, Arkansas
 1:57.79; 10. Jared Christiansan, Tulsa 1:59.26; 11. Jeff Demo, Tulsa
2:03.93;  12. Dion Rentie, MSU 2:04.50; 13. Nick Griffin, Tulsa 2:06.79.

Finals EVENT 6 MEN'S 1 MILE RUN
 1. James Karanu, Arkansas 3:59.35; 2. Murray Link, Arkansas 4:05.17; 3.
Dwight Davis, Tulsa 4:08.50; 4. Gary Hames, Unattached 4:13.75; 5. David Bohlen,
 Unattached 4:16.62; 6. Cornelius Mason, Unattached 4:18.79; 7. Alan
Dunleavy, Arkansas 4:19.09; 8. Tim Surface, Tulsa 4:22.60; - Ryan Travis, Arkansas
DNF.

Finals EVENT 7 MEN'S 3,000 METER RUN
 1. Sharif Karie, Arkansas 8:10.13; 2. Daniel Lincoln, Arkansas 8:16.28;
3.Andy Begley, Arkansas 8:27.70; 4. Mike Moran, Unattached 8:30.65; 5. Ryan
 Joseph, Unattached 8:34.70; 6. Keith O'Doherty, Arkansas 8:44.43; 7. Tim
 Surface, Tulsa 8:53.21; 8. Cary Stidham, Tulsa 9:03.07; 9. Adam Sullivan,
 Tulsa 9:21.23; 10. Josh Mospby, Tulsa 9:23.58; 11. Kyle Webb, Tulsa
9:25.08; 12. David Stoff, Tulsa 9:38.63.
 
Preliminaries EVENT 2 MEN'S 60 METER HURDLES
  Heat 1: (w:NWI): 1. Sean Lightfoot, Arkansas 8.12; 2. Branon Vaughn,
Tulsa 9.12; 3. Jay Norwood, MSU 9.69; - D'Marcus Brown, Arkansas FS.
  Heat 2: (w:NWI): 1. Samuel Glover, Arkansas 8.14; 2. Eddie Jackson,
Arkansas 8.15; 3. Dale Lusby, Arkansas 8.78; 4. Dan Culp, MSU 9.23.

Finals EVENT 2 MEN'S 60 METER HURDLES
  (w:NWI): 1. Sean Lightfoot, Arkansas 8.05; 2. Samuel Glover, Arkansas
8.19; 3. Eddie Jackson, Arkansas 8.20; 4. Dale Lusby, Arkansas 8.72; 5. Branon
 Vaughn, Tulsa 8.74.

Finals EVENT 9 MEN'S 4X400 METER RELAY
 1. Tulsa 3:18.02; 2. Arkansas 3:18.21; 3. Unattached 3:24.47; 4. Tulsa"B" 3:26.42.

Finals EVENT 11 MEN'S HIGH JUMP
 1. Lavar Miller, Arkansas 2.13m; 1. James Ballard, Unattached 2.13m.

Finals EVENT 12 MEN'S POLE VAULT
 1. Seth Isringhausen, MSU 4.60m; 1. Dan Culp, MSU 4.60m; 3. Kasey Pliler,
 Unattached 4.42m; 3. Clifford Graham, Arkansas 4.42m; - Evan Kirkconnell,
 Arkansas NH.

Finals EVENT 13 MEN'S LONG JUMP
1. Ramon Washington, Arkansas 7.75m w:NWI; 2. James Ballard, Unattached
7.44m w:NWI; 3. Jason Ward, Arkansas 7.28m w:NWI; 4. Richard Smith, Arkansas
7.07m w:NWI; 5. Sedrick Lusk, Tulsa 6.97m w:NWI; 6. Eddie Jackson, Arkansas
6.89m w:NWI; 7. Carlos mcNeary, Unattached 6.65m w:NWI; 8. Lamonte Styles, MSU
6.52m w:NWI; 9. Dan Culp, MSU 5.53m w:NWI; - Merrick Woodard, Tulsa FOUL w:NWI.

Finals EVENT 14 MEN'S TRIPLE JUMP
 1. Melvin Lister, Arkansas 16.16m w:NWI; 2. Brian Wellman, Unattached
16.03m w:NWI; 3. Lavar Miller, Arkansas 15.30m w:NWI; 4. Lamonte Styles, MSU
12.99m w:NWI.

Finals EVENT 15 MEN'S SHOT PUT
 1. Marcus Clavelle, Arkansas 18.50m; 2. John Cross, Arkansas 16.60m; 3.
Jake Lyon, Tulsa 13.24m.