Arkansas women’s track and field had four individuals sign a national letter of intent during the November signing period and will join the Razorbacks for the 2023 fall semester.
FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas women’s track and field had four individuals sign a national letter of intent during the November signing period and will join the Razorbacks for the 2023 fall semester.
The incoming crew includes Rachel Homoly (Liberty, Missouri), Paityn Noe (Huxley, Iowa), Olivia Pielemeier (Pearcy, Arkansas), and Skye Tolbert (Niceville, Florida).
Homoly, of Liberty HS, is a two-time Missouri Class 5 State champion in the pole vault. She won the 2022 State title with a career best of 14-0, the same height she achieved during the indoor season, to complete an undefeated outdoor season through 10 meets.
In 2021, her winning height in the State meet was 12-9 and she cleared a best of 13-2 during another undefeated season through 10 outdoor meets and five indoor meets.
Homoly’s outdoor clearance of 14-0 ranked equal sixth on the 2022 national high school list where she was the fourth best junior. Indoors, Homoly ranked fifth in the nation with a 14-0 mark, which was third best among juniors.
Noe, of Ballard HS, claimed the Iowa 2022 3A State cross country title in October with a personal best of 16:48.6 over a 5,000m course, defending the title she won as a junior in 2021. Roe was a silver medalist in 2020 and a bronze medalist in 2019.
This past weekend, Noe placed third in the Champs Midwest Region meet held in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with a time of 17:35.4 to earn qualification for the National Finals, which will be held on December 10 in San Diego, California.
A couple weeks earlier, Noe finished as runner-up in the Nike Heartland Regional with a time of 17:02.7 to qualify for the Nike Nationals, which will be held December 3 in Portland, Oregon.
During her junior track season in 2022, Noe won the Drake Relays 3,000m in a career beset 9:53.31 before claiming the Iowa State title. A State runner-up in the 1,500m, Noe later won the XLRB Summer Kickoff Invite in a PR of 4:31.73. Racing in the HOKA Festival of Miles, she posted a best of 4:54.29 to place seventh.
Each of those efforts produced the leading time for 2022 in the state of Iowa.
Pielemeier, of Lake Hamilton HS, earned the 2021 Arkansas Gatorade Athlete of the Year in cross country as well as the 2021-22 Arkansas Gatorade Athlete of the Year in track and field. Pielemeier claimed State titles in cross country as a junior and senior after earning bronze as a sophomore and freshman.
She swept the 800m, 1,600m and 3,200m races in the 2022 Arkansas 5A State meet as a junior, leading the Wolves to a second-place team finish. Pielemeier set a state meet record with her winning time of 11:15.86 in the 3,200m and she helped set another meet record as the anchor of Lake Hamilton’s victorious 4 x 800m relay team (9:42.05).
During the Arkansas Meet of Champions, Pielemeier anchored Lake Hamilton to a runner-up finish in 9:40.83 and won the 3,200m race in a career best of 11:05.06.
As a sophomore, Pielemeier won 2021 State titles in the 800m, 1,600m and 4 x 800m relay. She finished second in the 800m at the Arkansas Meet of Champions, anchored the bronze medal 4 x 800m relay and fifth place 4 x 400m relay.
Tolbert, of Niceville HS, competes in the 100m hurdles and pole vault. A Florida 4A State champion in the hurdles, Tolbert posted a winning time of 13.72 seconds for the 2022 title after claiming the 4A Region 1 final in 13.70. She also ran second leg on the bronze medal 4 x 100m relay (47.34).
Earlier in the season Tolbert set a career best of 13.53 in March to win The Elite 16 Invitational. Her time ranked sixth in the nation for the 2022 season, with five juniors ahead of her on the list, separated by two tenths of a second from the leading mark of 13.33.
Tolbert, the leading hurdler in Florida, also clocked a wind-aided 13.69 to place fourth in the Texas Relays.
In the pole vault, Tolbert cleared a career best height of 12-9.5 as the silver medalist in the Florida 4A State meet. Her previous best of 12-7.5 placed second in the 4A Region 1 meet.
As a sophomore in 2021, Tolbert placed fourth in the 100m hurdles (14.20) and pole vault (10-10) during the 4A State meet while also being part of a fifth-place 4 x 100m relay. At the 2021 AAU Junior Olympics, she finished fourth in the pole vault (11-11.75) and sixth in the 100m hurdles (14.97 final, 14.57 prelim).
