Britton Wilson, Lance Harter garner SEC Outdoor honors

BIRMINGHAM – Arkansas junior Britton Wilson earned SEC Runner of the Year while Razorback head coach Lance Harter was named SEC Coach of the Year the conference office announced on Wednesday based on voting by the league coaches.

In his final season as head coach with Arkansas, Harter achieved his 46th overall SEC Coach of the Year honor, the 10th accolade during the outdoors season. Harter has also received the honor 22 times in cross country and 14 times during the indoor season.

The Razorbacks secured a 10th SEC Outdoor championship at LSU, scoring 134 points to withstand the challenge from Florida, runner-up with 112 points. Harter’s distance runners totaled 49 points from four distance events, which included gold and silver medals in the 10,000m, as well as silver and bronze medals in the steeplechase.

This is the second time an Arkansas athlete has earned two SEC Outdoor Runner of the Year honors. Dominique Scott claimed the honor in 2015 and shared the accolade in 2016.

Prior to Scott, LSU sprinter Kimberlyn Duncan earned the award twice, sharing it in 2012 and then being awarded in 2013. Previous double winners also include sprinters D’Andre Hill of LSU in 1995-1996, Debbie Ferguson of Georgia in 1999-2000, and Kerron Stewart of Auburn in 2006-2007.

Wilson repeated her unique double victory in the 400m and 400m hurdles from last year’s SEC meet and defended her titles in record fashion as she delivered a world best same day double.

Entering the meet with the collegiate record of 49.51, Wilson lowered it to 49.40 in the SEC prelims. That effort broke the meet record of 49.84 set in 2021 by Athing Mu of Texas A&M as well as the facility record of 49.57, which was a collegiate record at the time, by Courtney Okolo of Texas in 2016.

Then for an encore she blistered the field with a 49.13 in the final, becoming the No. 4 American all-time with the ninth best performance as she produced the fastest 400m time by an American since 2009.

Over 400m hurdles, Wilson posted a facility record of 53.76 in the prelims to better the previous mark of 54.70 set in 2016 by Ashley Spencer.

In the final, following a 30-minute lightning delay, Wilson defeated the field by nearly two seconds with a 53.28, which ranks as the No. 4 performance on the collegiate all-time list.

Wilson’s SEC effort earned National Athlete of the Week for a second time this outdoor season.

Back in April she received the national weekly accolade after winning the 400m hurdles in 53.23, the No. 3 collegiate mark all-time, followed by a collegiate record of 49.51 the following day at Florida’s Tom Jones Memorial. Both performances are the fastest times by a collegian in the month of April.

SEC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Awards