FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - No. 1 Arkansas backed up its NCAA-leading rank with a great showing on the opening day of the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at John McDonnell Field Thursday night.
Janeek Brown and Payton Chadwick provided the highlights for Arkansas in the prelims of the 200-meters as the dynamic duo punched their tickets to the final running 22.96 and 23.11, respectively. Brown, who has recorded the SEC's fastest-time this season at 22.67, flat out ran away from the competition in heat three to win by over half a second (0.57). Chadwick finished third in her heat crossing the line a mere nineteen one-hundredths (.19) of a second off the heat leader Kianna Gray of Kentucky (22.92Q).
In the prelims of the 800-meters, Alex Byrnes battled to a 16th-place finish running 2:12.81 in the two-lap race.
J'Alyiea Smith was the first one out in the prelims of the 400-meter hurdles, taking 10th in the event with a time of 1:00.74, missing out on advancing by a little over half a second (0.55).
Arkansas returns to action at the 2019 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships tomorrow morning with competition getting underway starting at 4:30 p.m. with the women's long jump.
Team scores through two scored events
| PLACE | WOMEN [2 out of 21 scored] | SCORE | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Auburn | 16 |
| 2 |  | Florida | 11 |
| 2 |  | Missouri | 11 |
| 4 |  | Ole Miss | 10 |
| 4 |  | Texas A&M | 10 |
| 6 |  | Georgia | 6 |
| 7 |  | Miss State | 5 |
| 7 |  | South Carolina | 5 |
| 9 |  | Alabama | 4 |
| - |  | Kentucky | 0 |
| - |  | LSU | 0 |
| - |  | Tennessee | 0 |
| - |  | Vanderbilt | 0 |