Beckford wins debut high jump, Reina creates mile history
FAYETTEVILLE – A pair of Razorbacks battled over 7 feet in the high jump at the Arkansas Invitational on Friday with double NCAA champion Romaine Beckford winning the event with a 7 foot, 2.5 inch (2.29) clearance on a short, four-step approach.
Beckford trailed teammate Kason O’Riley when both cleared 7-1 (2.16), as O’Riley navigated the previous height of 6-11 (2.11) on a first attempt while Beckford needed three tries before clearing.
A third attempt clearance at 7-2.5 earned Beckford the victory as three missed attempts at 7-3.25 (2.22) followed. Beckford then saluted the encouraging crowd of 1,418 with his signature backflip on the high jump mat.
Following the 1-2 Arkansas finish in the high jump, Razorback Tomas Ferrari placed fifth with a 6-7 (2.01) clearance.
Opening events on the track with the mile produced a special occurrence when Razorback Reuben Reina registered a time of 3:59.91 as runner-up to alum Austen Dalquist (3:58.20).
Reina’s career best time, and first sub-4 mile, made him and his father, also named Reuben Reina, the 15th father-son combo to each produce a sub-4 mile. Reuben Sr. produced a 5:58.88 in 1989 at the SWC Championships in Ft. Worth.
In bettering his previous best of 4:03.11, the younger Reina became the 11th American Razorback to run sub-4 in an Arkansas uniform.
Other father-son combinations include Kenya’s Kip and Martin Keino, who were the first overall, and Barry and Darren Brown, the first American pair. Additional pairings include Matt and Matthew Centrowitz, Eamonn and John Coghlan of Ireland, as well as John and John Jr. Gregorek, who produced the fastest PR average of 3:50.66.
In the 3,000m an 8:08.39 produced a victory for Razorback Myles Richter over Tulsa’s Malte Propp (8:14.07) and Great Britain’s Jacob Deacon (8:16.79).
Racing at 1,000m a pair of PR were established by Ben Shearer (2:21.81) and Riley Wells (2:22.23) as they finished behind Oklahoma State’s Alex Stitt winning time of 2:21.54.
In the 600m, Razorbacks placed second and third with TJ Tomlyanovich and Brandon Battle. A 1:16.75 by Oklahoma State’s DeJuana McArthur of Oklahoma State won the race. Tomlyanovich set a 1:17:58 career best as runner-up while Battle had a 1:18.03 debut in the race.
Brevin Sims finished third in the 60m hurdle final with a 7.82 after setting a career best of 7.79 in the prelims to move to No. 9 on the UA all-time list. Professionals Louis Rollins (7.62) and Jamal Britt (7.69) finished first and second in the hurdle final.
Freshman John Kendricks placed fourth in the pole vault with a clearance of 15-7 (4.75) while Razorback multi-eventers Jack Turner, a transfer from UTSA, and Yariel Soto Torrado tied for fifth place matching the same height of 15-7.
