No. 3 Razorbacks primed to challenge for NCAA Outdoor title

AUSTIN – No. 3 Arkansas will have a similar formula for scoring points at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that earned the Razorbacks a national team title at the NCAA Indoor meet earlier this season. Action this week takes place Thursday and Saturday at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

The same three teams that were ranked 1-2-3 heading into the indoor national meet, follows suit outdoors with No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Florida, and No. 3 Arkansas. Indoors, the Razorbacks produced a world best 4 x 400m relay to capture the national team title by four points over Texas.

Austin last served as host of the NCAA Championships in 2019, when Arkansas entered the final event tied with USC and a runner-up finish in the 4 x 400m relay secured the team title, the second of three championships the Razorbacks earned in a Triple Crown year.

A sweep of NCAA Indoor and Outdoor women’s titles has been accomplished 16 times, with LSU achieving the feat nine times, its last in 2003. Florida swept the titles in 2022, after Arkansas in 2019.

Texas, who produced the first national title sweep in 1986, has done it three times (1998, 1999). Other schools include Arizona State (2007) and Oregon (2017).

With the Razorback men 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.

Leading the charge for Arkansas into the NCAA Outdoor Championships are a trio of indoor champions in Britton Wilson (400m), Ackera Nugent (100m hurdles), and Amanda Fassold (pole vault).

The most recent form chart by Track & Field News magazine has Texas leading the team title chase with 88 points followed by Florida and Arkansas, who are separated by a single point, 54-53, for the runner-up postion.

Individual predictions have Wilson winning the 400m and placing third in the 400m hurdles, with Nugent and Fassold each runner-up in the 100m hurdles and pole vault, respectively. The Razorback 4 x 400 relay is the selection for victory over Texas with the 4 x 100 tabbed for sixth place.

Additional scoring by Arkansas includes Rosey Effiong (5th) and Nickisha Pryce (7th) in the 400m with Paris Peoples in the ninth-place position, along with Madison Langley-Walker (7th) in the 400m hurdles.

Wilson is attempting a very rare sweep of the 400m and 400m hurdles, a double victory she recently repeated at the SEC Championships with an hour and a half gap (due to a 30m lightning delay) in between the two finals.

During the NCAA West Preliminary round, with separate gender events held each day, the gap shortened to 35 minutes in the quarterfinals. There will be a 30-minute gap in the NCAA semifinal with Wilson racing in the second section of the 400m and the first section of the 400m hurdles. In the finals on Saturday the window closes to 25 minutes.

In the 41-year history of the women’s NCAA Outdoor meet, only four individuals have reached the final in attempting the double five times. Each claimed a title in one event but couldn’t achieve a victory in the other event. The closest to accomplishing the rare feat was Allison Beckford of Rice in 2001 as she won the 400m and finished second in the 400m hurdles.

Only one school has ever had winners in the two events at the same NCAA Championships. In 1982 Florida State claimed the pair of titles with Marita Payne in the 400m and Tonja Brown in the 400m hurdles.

Another rare double victory that is possible for the Razorbacks is the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles combo. Nugent ranks third in the 100m hurdles among collegians this season with a 12.43 career best.

Kentucky’s Masai Russell, who broke the collegiate record with a 12.36 this season, is the top seed while SEC Champion Alia Armstrong of LSU ranks second with a 12.40 and has a windy 12.31 (2.2 wind) from this year.

Joining Nugent in the 100m hurdles and Wilson in the 400m hurdles is Langley-Walker, who lowered her times in both events in spectacular fashion. Entering the season with career best times of 13.64 and 57.40 after transferring from Oklahoma, Langley-Walker progressed to 13.11 and 56.05, which ranks No. 3 all-time at Arkansas, during the NCAA West meet.

Only three times has the same school won both hurdle events in the same NCAA Outdoor, and twice it was the same hurdler accomplishing a double victory. The most recent to achieve the double win was Anna Cockrell of USC in 2021. Virginia Tech’s Queen Harrison registered a double victory in 2010.

Kentucky claimed wins in both hurdle races in 2018 with Jasmin Camacho-Quinn (100H) and Sydney McLaughlin (400H).

In the 400m, Wilson is joined by four teammates who all set career best times at the NCAA West Preliminary rounds. Four of them occupy the top five positions on the Arkansas all-time list.

Wilson, who broke the collegiate record three times this season, is the top seed with her 49.13 SEC victory. Following are Effiong with a 50.17 that ranks No. 10 all-time among U.S. collegians, Pryce (50.49), Peoples (50.60), and Joanne Reid (51.49).

At the NCAA Indoor, Arkansas advanced three of six entrants to the final, scoring 18 points off a 1-4-6 finish.

The five Razorbacks in the 400m matches USC’s effort in 2021, where three Trojans earned first-team All-America honors in the final while scoring 13 points off a 3-4-7 finish.

Four schools have produced four first-team All-America honors for top 8 finishes in a single event. They include Florida State (1982 – 200m), LSU (1990 – 100m hurdles), UCLA (1997 & 1998 – discus), and Southern Illinois (2010 – hammer).

Joining Fassold in the pole vault field are Kaitlyn Banas and Mackenzie Hayward. After a silver medal performance at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor meet with a career best of 14-11 (4.55), Fassold won the NCAA Indoor title with a vault of 14-7.25 (4.45) and swept the SEC pole vault titles this season.

This marks the eighth time for Arkansas to have three vaulters in the NCAA Outdoor final, and it’s the fourth consecutive meet. Hayward is making her third appearance at the NCAA Outdoor while Banas advances for the first time.

Razorback vaulters have produced a NCAA Outdoor scorer in 18 of the past 19 meets, with two national champions and eight silver medalists. The pole vault will be the first final for Arkansas on Thursday.

Sydney Thorvaldson is one of 24 entrants in the 5,000m final, which will be contested on Saturday. She posted team leading times of 15:41.58 in the 5,000m and 33:03.36 in the 10,000m this season. Thorvaldson won the SEC 10k title and placed sixth in the 5,000m.

In relays, Arkansas is one of 15 schools to have both relays in Austin, seven of which are from the SEC. The Razorback men and women are one of seven schools to have all four relays at the NCAA Outdoor meet, five of which are from the SEC. They include Florida, Georgia, LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, and USC.

Texas improved the collegiate record in the 4 x 100 relay twice this season, posting a 42.00 at the Texas Relays and then a 41.89 to win the Big 12 title. Arkansas produced its season best time during the NCAA West meet with a 43.03 that ranks No. 2 on the UA all-time list behind a school record of 42.65 set in 2019.

Based on times from the two region meets, the Razorbacks generated the third best time. Marks from the season have Arkansas ranking fifth among the NCAA field.

After running a world indoor best of 3:21.75, which bettered the outdoor collegiate record, in winning the NCAA Indoor championship, Arkansas’ best time outdoors is 3:24.45 as runner-up to the Longhorns (3:23.27) in the Texas Relays.

The top seed during the NCAA Preliminary rounds, the Razorbacks ran 3:25.95 to top USC (3:27.52) and Texas (3:27.85).

NCAA Outdoor Championships | Austin, Texas

Thursday, June 8