No. 1 Arkansas claims 22nd SEC Outdoor team title, third consecutive

BATON ROUGE – The No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks claimed a third consecutive team title in the SEC Outdoor Championships and 22nd overall at Bernie Moore Stadium as they accumulated 149 points, which included three impressive victories on the final day.

This marks the 29th SEC title for Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam, with 10 cross country, 11 indoor, and eight outdoor conference championships.

Finishing behind the Razorbacks were host LSU (89), Tennessee (87), Georgia (75), Texas A&M (73), Florida (70), Alabama (58), and Ole Miss (58).

Jaydon Hibbert broke the outdoor collegiate record in the triple jump as he amazed once again with a second-round leap of 58 feet, 7.5 inches (17.87) that had an aiding wind of 1.3 to better the 1982 collegiate record of 57-7.75 (17.57) by nearly a full foot that SMU’s Keith Connor set.

Hibbert also bettered the World U20 record of 57-5 (17.50) set in 1985 by East Germany’s Volker Mai. The Arkansas school record of 57-6.5 (17.54) set by Mike Conley 1985 also was broken.

On the world all-time list, Hibbert is =13th with Mike Conley’s mark from 1987. For the 2023 season, Hibbert is the current world leader.

Rojé Stona, who entered the meet with a career best of 219-10 (67.02) from this venue two weeks prior, spun the discus an amazing 225-2 (68.64) to become the first Razorback to win a SEC discus title.

On the all-time collegiate list, Stona is the No. 2 performer with the No. 3 performance. He moves to No. 2 on the Jamaican all-time list and is currently No. 4 on the 2023 world list.

The SEC meet record of 213-9 (65.15), set in 1985 by Kentucky’s Mike Buncic, was bettered in the second round with Stona’s toss of 215-5 (65.67). After improving that distance with the winning mark in round four, Stona closed with a 221-11 (67.65) in the final round.

The current collegiate record of 232-11 (71.00) was recently set on April 29 by Mykolas Alekna of California, who came into this season holding the collegiate record distance of 222-1 (67.68) from 2022. Alekna initially improved the collegiate record to 224-5 (68.39) on April 8 of this season.

Arkansas produced 21 points in the discus after scoring 14 points in the shot put the previous day. Ralford Mullings finished as the silver medalist with a mark of 203-5 (62.00) while shot put champion Jordan West placed sixth with a mark of 182-1 (55.51) that moves him to No. 6 on UA all-time list.

Ayden Owens-Delerme clocked 48.26 seconds in winning the 400m hurdles in just his third race at the event as a collegian. Owens-Delerme broke the SEC meet record of 48.29 set in 2005 by Florida’s Kerron Clement to defeat Alabama’s Chris Robinson (48.36) and Georgia’s Caleb Cavanaugh (49.07) with two-time NCAA champion Sean Burrell of LSU (49.32) in fourth.

The Razorback school record of 48.49 set in 2017 by Kemar Mowatt fell to Owens-Delerme as well. Owens-Delerme ranks No. 12 on the all-time collegiate list and No. 2 on the Puerto Rican all-time list behind a 47.72 by Javier Culson from 2010. Currently, he ranks No. 4 on the 2023 world list.

Arkansas totaled 23 points in the triple jump, finishing 1-2-6-7 in the event. Ryan Brown captured the silver medal with a career best 53-11 (16.43) as Wayne Pinnock’s PR of 52-2.75 (15.92) placed sixth with Carey McLeod seventh at 50-9.25 (15.47).

A runner-up finish in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.63 with 0.0 wind had Phillip Lemonious just a tenth of second behind the 13.53 for Tennessee’s Devon Brooks. Razorback Matthew Lewis-Banks placed seventh in 13.94.

A silver and bronze medal finish in the 5,000m had Patrick Kiprop clocking 13:48.45 and Ben Shearer posting a 14:07.30 in the race. Additional points came from Myles Richter in sixth place with a 14:12.89.

Elias Schreml earned a bronze medal in the 1,500m with a 3:43.80 to finish behind a 3:41.52 for South Carolina’s Anass Essayi and a 3:43.79 by Shane Bracken of Ole Miss.

James Benson II established another career best in the 400m for fifth place, posting a time of 44.82 to move to No. 2 on the UA all-time list behind the school record of 44.48 by Roddie Haley in 1986.