14 Razorbacks, Alums earn top 10 in T&F News World Rankings

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California – Year-end World Rankings for the 2024 season produced by Track & Field News included 14 Razorbacks and Arkansas alums ranked among the top 10 in 11 events.

This is edition No. 77 of the Track & Field News World Rankings. The top 10 rankings establish relative merit for the whole calendar year. The magazine uses three weighted criteria involving honors won, win-loss record, and sequence of marks.

In addition to the World Rankings, 10 athletes with Arkansas connections were ranked in top 10 of the U.S. Rankings covering 10 events.

A trio of Jamaican Razorbacks earned No. 2 status in the World Rankings among their respective events with Ackera Nugent in the 100m hurdles, Wayne Pinnock in the long jump and Olympic discus champion Rojé Stona.

Stona defeated the discus world record holder, Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania, by two inches in Paris while setting an Olympic record with his 229-8 (70.00) gold medal victory.

Pinnock claimed silver in the long jump at the Paris Olympics and won the Zürich Diamond League meet. Earlier in the season he swept indoor titles at the SEC and NCAA Championships.

While Nugent did not finish the 100m hurdles final in the Paris Olympics, she did produce a world-leading time of 12.24 seconds for 2024 to win the Rome Diamond League meet and moved to No. 4 on the all-time world list. Nugent also registered four of the year’s five fastest times.

Another pair of Jamaicans were ranked No. 5 with Carey McLeod in the long jump and Jaydon Hibbert in the triple jump.

McLeod was a bronze medalist at World Indoors, then won at the Doha Diamond League as well as the Jamaica Championships before placing 12th at the Olympic Games.

A brief four-meet season for Hibbert included placing fourth in the Paris Olympics after winning the USATF Bermuda meet to start the year in late April.

A trio of Razorback sprinters ranked in the women’s 400m with Amber Anning at No. 6, Nickisha Pryce at No. 7 and Kaylyn Brown at No. 8.

Anning broke the British national record with a 49.29 in placing fifth in the Olympic final. Her season included SEC & NCAA Outdoor bronze amid Arkansas sweeps, winning the Great Britian Championships, and placing fourth in the London Diamond League.

Pryce broke the Jamaican national record and the collegiate record with a 48.89 NCAA victory after winning the SEC title in 49.32. After winning the Jamaica Championships for a second consecutive year, she posted a then world-leading time of 48.57 to win the London Diamond League.

Brown, the lone collegiate freshman to be world ranked in any event, collected SEC & NCAA silver with impressive times of 49.47 and 49.13 and finished fourth at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Her 49.13 equaled the American collegiate record set by Razorback Britton Wilson in 2023.

Additional No. 6 rankings were achieved by Sandi Morris in the pole vault and Ayden Owens-Delerme in the decathlon while Romaine Beckford ranked No. 8 in the high jump.

Morris placed fifth in the World Indoor Championships and finished fourth in the U.S. Olympic Trials. A season best of 15-10 (4.83) placed her second in the Rome Diamond League. Morris capped the season as runner-up in the Diamond League Final.

Owens-Delerme won the Mt. SAC Relays decathlon with a career best score of 8,732 points, which bettered his Puerto Rican national record, and placed ninth in the Olympic Games.

Beckford, who swept NCAA Indoor & Outdoor titles for the second consecutive year, placed 10th in the Olympic Games high jump and then followed with a pair of runner-up finishes in Diamond League meets, clearing career best heights of 7-6 (2.29) and 7-6.5 (2.30). Then he capped the season placing fourth in the Diamond League Final.

Three Arkansas alums who ranked No. 10 were Chris Bailey in the 400m, Shafiqua Maloney in the 800m, and Nikki Hiltz in the 1,500m.

Maloney came extremely close to claiming an Olympic medal with a St. Vincent national-record performance of 1:57.66 that placed her fourth in Paris, where the bronze medal time was 1:57.42.

Baily finished sixth in the Paris Olympic final after producing a career best 44.31 in the semifinal. He placed third in the U.S. Olympic Trials equaling his previous PR of 44.42.

Hiltz placed seventh as the top American in the Olympic final of the 1,500m after they won the U.S. Olympics Trials with a career best of 3:55.33.

In the U.S. Rankings, Hiltz earned No. 1 status in the 1,500m and added No. 8 in the 800m. No. 2 U.S. honors were achieved by Brown in the 400m, Rachel Glenn in the high jump, and Morris in the pole vault. Taliyah Brooks ranked No. 3 in the heptathlon.

Bailey ranked No. 4 in the 400m while the women’s 400m included Isabella Whittaker at No. 7 and Rosey Effiong at No. 10. Glenn also ranked No. 5 in the 400m hurdles.

Incoming freshman Scottie Vines ranked No. 8 in the high jump. Vines was one of four high school boys to earn a U.S. top 10 ranking. Alum Logan Jolly ranked No. 10 in the steeplechase.

2024 World Rankings | Razorbacks & Alums

14 Athletes | 11 events

Men (7 athletes | 6 events)

Women (7 athletes | 5 events)

2024 U.S. Rankings | Razorbacks & Alums

10 athletes | 10 events

Men (2 athletes | 2 events)

Women (8 athletes | 8 events)