No. 1 Arkansas seeks another national title in Austin

AUSTIN – Arkansas enters a second NCAA Championship this season No. 1 in the national rankings as the Razorbacks seek a third national team title in the Texas capital city. Action for the men will be held Wednesday and Friday at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Following an NCAA Indoor team championship in March, Arkansas aims for its 11th sweep of national team titles. That feat has been accomplished 21 times since 1967, with the Razorbacks collecting 10 sweeps in a 20-year span (1985 to 2005).

UTEP registered five NCAA title sweeps, its last in 1982, while Oregon had a pair in 2014 and 2015. Other programs include USC (1967), Kansas (1970), SMU (1983), and Florida (2012).

With the Razorback women also in contention to sweep NCAA Championships this season, Arkansas would become the first school to ever sweep all four NCAA track and field titles in the same season.

The Track & Field News form chart favors the Razorbacks to top the field by 20 points with a tally of 69 points. A close competition for the runner-up position includes Georgia (49), Florida (48), and Texas Tech (44).

Individuals favored by the magazine to claim titles include – Ayden Owens-Delerme (400m hurdles), Wayne Pinnock (long jump) and Jaydon Hibbert (triple jump). Predictions for runner-up finishes include Carey McLeod (long jump) and Rojé Stona (discus).

The form chart has another eight scoring opportunities for the Razorbacks, which include Ryan Brown (4th) in the triple jump, Ralford Mullings (4th) in the discus, Jordan West (5th) in the shot put, Phillip Lemonious (6th) in the 110m hurdles, Patrick Kiprop (7th) in the 10,000m, McLeod (8th) in the triple jump, along with Marcus Weaver (7th) and Yariel Soto Torrado (8th) in the decathlon.

Austin has been a special host site for the Razorbacks at previous NCAA Championships. In 1985 Arkansas claimed its first NCAA Outdoor title, defeating Washington State 61-46, to complete the first national Triple Crown in program history.

Another national championship in Austin occurred in 1992 with the Razorbacks defeating Tennessee, 60-46.5, for Arkansas’ second NCAA Outdoor title as it completed a second Triple Crown.

Big points are predicted from five entries involving four athletes in the two jump events by the Razorbacks with triple jump collegiate record holder Jaydon Hibbert seeking to sweep NCAA titles in his freshman season.

Previously, only three freshmen have won the NCAA Outdoor title in the triple jump – Charlton Ehizuelen of Illinois in 1974, Will Claye of Oklahoma in 2009, and Oregon’s Emmanuel Ihemeje in 2021.

Of that trio only Ihemeje claimed a NCAA Indoor title that same year, while Claye was runner-up indoors to another freshman, Florida’s Christian Taylor, and Ehizuelen finished second.

Only two Razorback freshmen have ever scored in the NCAA Outdoor triple jump. Femi Abejide placed eighth in 1986 and Gary Johnson finished sixth in 1989.

If Arkansas repeats winning both the long jump and triple jump titles like they did at NCAA Indoor this season, it would be the sixth time the Razorbacks have accomplished the double NCAA sweep. Florida in 2015 is the only other school to do so.

At the NCAA Outdoor, sweeping both titles by an individual or the same team has been done 13 times, six by Arkansas while Florida follows with three.

Pinnock and McLeod finished first and fourth in the 2022 NCAA Outdoor long jump while at Tennessee, then during the 2023 NCAA Indoor, the positions were reversed as McLeod won on his last jump with Pinnock fourth.

The best combination finish for Arkansas in the long jump at NCAA Outdoor was first and third in 1984 by Mike Conley and Mike Davis. Overall, five Razorbacks have won nine long jump titles along with five silver and three bronze medals among 29 All-America honors.

In the triple jump, the best combo finish was first and second, which was achieved twice, in 1992 with Brian Wellman and Gary Johnson, and again in 1994 by Erick Walder and Jerome Romain. Overall, six Razorbacks have won 12 triple jump titles at NCAA Outdoor, with four sliver and three bronze medals among 27 All-America honors.

Arkansas will have three decathletes in the field while defending champion Owens-Delerme is favored to win the 400m hurdles. Daniel Spejcher placed seventh a year ago with the Razorbacks while Soto Torrado finished 10th with Tennessee. Weaver won the past two NCAA Division III decathlons.

Soto Torrado (7,911) and Weaver (7,910) both produced career best scores this season and are separated by a single point, ranking No. 4 and No. 4 on the UA all-time list. Spejcher’s career best of 7,881 from 2022 ranks No. 8.

This will be the fourth time a school has had three or more decathletes in the same NCAA Championship. BYU had five in 1975 and three in 1976 while Tennessee had the same three individuals in consecutive years, 1991 and 1992.

Previously, Arkansas had a pair of entrants in the decathlon, scoring 10 points in 2012 from the combo of Kevin Lazas (3rd) and Gunnar Nixon (5th), and 12 points in 2022 from 0wens-Delerme (1st) and Spejcher (7th).

Bonus points for the Razorbacks may come in either relay, where the T&F News form chart didn’t have Arkansas scoring in either event.

The Razorbacks are one of 14 schools with both relays in the NCAA Championship, six of which are from the SEC. Arkansas is one of seven schools to have all four relays in the meet when including the women’s entries, five of which are from the SEC. The schools include Florida, Georgia, LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, and USC.

A 3:04.29 in the 4 x 400 relay in the NCAA West by the Razorbacks ranks 10th overall between the two regions while a 4 x 100 relay time of 39.30 ranks 13th overall. Arkansas’ season best time in the 4 x 400 is 3:03.33.

The Razorbacks won the NCAA Indoor title in the 4 x 400 with a 3:02.09 a month after clocking a world-leading 3:01.09 at the same facility in Albuquerque.

NCAA Outdoor Championships | Austin, Texas

Wednesday, June 7