Arkansas registers four wins, close finishes at LSU Invitational

BATON ROUGE, La. – Four victories, three runner-up marks and a trio of third-place finishes highlighted No. 12 Arkansas’ performance at the LSU Invitational held Saturday inside Bernie Moore Stadium.

The 110m hurdles featured a match-up of LSU versus Arkansas with 0.003 of a second separating the top two finishers while 0.09 of a second separated first through fifth place. LSU’s Eric Edwards had the edge at the finish line over Razorback Tre’Bien Gilbert, with both producing a time of 13.61 (-0.3 wind). The difference to decide the winner was 13.605 to 13.608.

Phillip Lemonious, making his Razorback outdoor debut in the 110m hurdles, finished third in 13.62 ahead of a 13.68 for LSU’s Damion Thomas while another Arkansas hurdler, Carl Elliott, III, ran 13.70 in fifth.

The efforts by the Razorback trio place them at No. 6, No. 7 and No. 10 on the UA all-time list.

Razorback relays swept the 4×100 and 4×400 while also having a secondary squad in each race perform well.

In the 4×100, Arkansas posted a winning time of 39.56 seconds to defeat Ole Miss (40.28) and New Orleans (40.29) while a second Razorback squad finished fourth with a 40.93.

The winning unit included Roman Turner, Cade Clark, Gilbert, and Jalen Brown. The other UA foursome had Josh Oglesby, Lemonious, Elliott, III, and Shaka Bogan.

A 3:10.61 won the 4×400 with a foursome of James Milholen (48.6), Jeremy Farr (47.5), Rhayko Schwartz (46.7), Kristoffer Hari (47.8). Alabama (3:12.77) and Memphis (3:17.02) were second and third.

The second Arkansas unit ran 3:19.02 to place fourth with a multi-event crew of Daniel Spejcher (50.7), Tyler Brendel (48.5), Markus Ballengee (50.3), and Etamar Bhastekar (49.5).

Kieran Taylor led a 1-2-4-6 finish for the Razorbacks in the 800m, winning with a 1:48.87. Career best times followed for Jadon Bartholomew (1:50.67) and Ethan Carney (1:50.81) while Reese Walters clocked 1:52.56.

Carter Persyn won the 3,000m steeplechase with a season best of 9:01.63, clipping six seconds off his time at Florida and bettering the LSU field by 20 seconds.

LaQuan Nairn hit a wind-aided mark of 26-0 (7.92) as runner-up in the long jump, while producing a wind-legal 25-9 ½ (7.86) in his series to break a tie with LSU alum Damar Forbes, whose second-best attempt measured 25-8 (7.82). Current Tiger Rayvon Grey reached a distance of 26-7 ¼w (8.11) for the win.

A time of 50.86 in the 400m hurdles placed Nick Hilson third overall and the second collegian. Quincy Downing won the race in 49.92 while Florida’s Denzel Villaman ran 50.23 as runner-up.

A clearance of 16-11 ½ (5.17) placed Bhastekar third in the pole vault while Braedon Maddox finished sixth at 15-11 ¾ (4.87).

Ruben Banks placed fourth in the hammer with a mark of 215-7 (65.72) as LSU went 1-2 with the combo of Jon Berdal (229-11) and Jake Norris (227-8). Ballengee finished fourth in the discus with a toss of 172-0 (52.44), just five inches off his mark the previous weekend during the decathlon, which placed him No. 8 on the UA all-time list with a 172-5.

Brown had a career best in the 200m with a 20.83 (-0.3 wind) to win his section and place fourth overall. A windy heat (2.1 wind) had Alabama’s running 20.62w for the overall victory. Turner finished fifth in the 100 with a 10.33 (-0.1 wind) while Brown followed in sixth place with a career best of 10.35 and Clark ran a wind-aided 10.70 to tie for 11^th.

A 6-7-9 Arkansas effort in the 400m was led by Schwartz (46.55) and included Milholen (46.87) and Farr (47.13).