Arkansas collects three South Central region honors

NEW ORLEANS – The Arkansas Razorbacks received three South Central Region honors as announced by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association following an indoor season which included a convincing SEC Indoor victory and a narrow four-point team win at the NCAA Indoor championships.

South Central Women’s Coach of the Year went to Arkansas head coach Lance Harter, while associate head coach Chris Johnson earned South Central Assistant Coach of the Year. Britton Wilson claimed a share of the South Central Track Athlete of the Year with Julien Alfred of Texas.

Harter earned his seventh indoor South Central Women’s Coach of the Year accolade, and 12th overall during the track and field seasons. It was the fourth NCAA Indoor team title for Arkansas and seventh overall as the Razorbacks entered the NCAA Indoor ranked No. 3 behind Texas and Florida.

Arkansas claimed the NCAA Indoor championship for the third time among the past four times the meet has been held. Titles were claimed in 2019, 2021, and 2023 with the 2020 version not held due to covid.

On the conference level, Harter achieved his 44th SEC championship, and the 13th SEC Indoor title, the most in league history as Arkansas broke a tie at 12 with LSU.

Johnson collected his fifth South Central indoor accolade and 14th region honor overall. His event group scored the bulk of team points in accomplishing the SEC and NCAA Indoor team title sweep.

His event group totaled 42 of 64 points to win national championship after scoring 65 of 130.5 points for SEC team title. A key event was the 400m, where six Razorbacks qualified for the NCAA Indoor, with three scoring in the final for 18 points. On the conference level, Arkansas totaled 21 points from five sprinters in the final.

When the indoor season concluded in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with the NCAA Indoor Championships, Johnson’s crew produced unprecedented achievements.

Three collegiate records were set among performances by Britton Wilson, 49.48 400m American record; Ackera Nugent, 7.72 prelims, 7.73 final 60m hurdles Jamaican record; and a world best 3:21.75 in the 4 x 400 relay in which each Razorback produced the fastest split ever by a collegian on their respective relay leg. The Arkansas relay demolished the previous world record of 3:23.37 set by Russia in 2006.

Arkansas had three sprinters run sub-51 seconds in the 400 this season, becoming the first school to achieve the feat during an indoor season.

Wilson’s 49.48, an American and collegiate record which is second best on the world all-time list, is followed by a 50.54 from Rosey Effiong, which ranks equal No. 8 on the collegiate all-time list as well as equal No. 7 on the U.S. all-time list, and a 50.68 by Amber Anning, No. 11 on the collegiate all-time list.

No other school has more than one sprinter among the collegiate top 10 all-time.

Wilson became only the second female sprinter to set an American and collegiate record in the 400m and then follow with a collegiate record in the 4 x 400 relay. The first to achieve that feat was Oregon’s Phyllis Francis in 2014, in which the NCAA Indoor was also held in Albuquerque.

In the history of the NCAA Indoor, Wilson is the 13th athlete to complete a 400m and 4 x 400m double victory, joining a crew of elite sprinters.

NCAA Indoor | 400 & 4 x 400 relay sweep

Wilson’s impressive indoor campaign, despite having covid during the middle of the season, included a collegiate record in the 600m with a time of 1:25.16 along with a 2:02.13 debut in the 800m, a time she repeated for SEC Indoor silver. She capped the indoor season with the fastest split ever indoors with a 49.19 on the anchor leg of the world best effort by Arkansas.

Arkansas also set absolute collegiate records in the 400m and 4 x 400m relay as Wilson bettered the outdoor 400m record of 49.57 set by Texas A&M’s Athing Mu in 2021 while the Razorbacks relay bettered the outdoor record of 3:21.93 set by Kentucky in 2022.