FAYETTEVILLE – A pair of Arkansas runner-up performances highlighted the first day of the Razorback Invitational at Randal Tyson Track Center on Friday with Heidi Hudson in the pentathlon along with the distance medley relay anchored by Sydney Vaught.
Hudson established a career best of 4,260 points, which ranks her No. 7 on the UA all-time pentathlon list. She finished runner-up to Oregon’s Lisa-Maria Lusti, who produced a winning tally of 4,290.
Lusti, an Estonian who has a career best of 4,522, and Hudson rank second and third among collegiate pentathlon scores this season behind a 4,316 by Lucie Kienast of Illinois. They also rank fifth and sixth on the current world list for 2026.
Vaught split 4:29.65 on the 1,600m anchor leg, moving Arkansas from fifth to second. The time of 10:51.43 finished as runner-up to Oklahoma State’s 10:47.84 and just ahead of South Carolina’s 10:51.52.
The effort by the Razorbacks ranks No. 4 on the UA all-time list. The first three legs included Ainsley Erzen (3:22.85), Sanaria Butler (51.07), and Makenna Herbst (2:07.86).
The split by Butler was the fastest 400m among the field while Vaught had the second fastest anchor leg.
Heidi produced a pair of career best heights in the high jump with clearances of 6-0.5 (1.84) and 6-1.5 (1.87) to score 1,067 points after opening with an 8.83 in the 60m hurdles (946). A shot put mark of 33-6.75 (10.23) picked up 545 points.
Then a long jump of 20-9 (6.32), just an inch off her PR set two weeks ago, registered 949 points. Hudson closed out the pentathlon with a 2:25.29 in the 800m for 753 points.
Starting at 5-5.25 (1.63) in the high jump, Hudson cleared six of eight bars on first attempts and needed a third attempt at 5-10 (1.78) and her top height of 6-1.5. She then missed three attempts at 6-2.75 (1.90).