Distance medley relay key race for Hogs in Arkansas Qualifier
FAYETTEVILLE – The No. 1 Razorbacks host the Arkansas Qualifier on Friday, February 20, at the Randal Tyson Track Center as representatives from 25 schools compete in a final meet prior to upcoming conference meets.
Live results are available at flashresults.com at this link. There will not be a live stream available for this meet.
Arkansas will run the distance medley relay for the first time this season. The top 12 times in relays qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Scheduled to race in the DMR at the Qualifier meet are Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington.
“We’re going to try to run a good distance medley relay this weekend,” Arkansas men’s head coach Doug Case said. “We have five of the best teams in the country coming in here. Last year Virginia broke the collegiate record in this meet.
“We feel like we’ll probably have to break our school record to qualify, which is very fast. The distance medley relay has gotten really quick the past couple of years. We’re going to put a good team out there to see if we can get them qualified for NCAAs.”
In last year’s race at the Arkansas Qualifier, Virginia established a world best and collegiate record of 9:14.19 over a 9:16.24 by Oklahoma State with Oregon third in 9:21.23 over a 9:21.26 school record for Arkansas. The Ducks ended up ranked 12th to claim the final NCAA qualifying spot while the Razorbacks were 13th.
Virginia went on to win the 2025 NCAA Indoor title in the distance medley relay with a 9:15.12 over North Carolina (9:17.17) and Oregon (9:17.57).
Arkansas plans to have a line-up of Owan Logorodi, Jordan Pierre, Tyrice Taylor, and Brian Masai in the DMR.
“We think we can run fast enough to qualify,” said Case. “Some of these guys are untested a little bit. We’ll have a freshman in Owan on the 1,200m lead-off leg. He needs to get out and have a good race. It’s a little bit of a test for him, honestly, to see if he can get out and get it started off well.
“Because I know the rest of our legs are solid. We’re going to run Jordan Pierre on the 400m leg and he was a finalist in the NCAA last year. Tyrice was a finalist in the 800m at NCAAs. So, we’ve got a real good group out there. Brian Masai will run the mile and he’s been having a great year with some big PRs. I think we’re ready to do it. We just need to get out there and run our best and see if we qualify.”
Logorodi has recently set career best times in the 1,000m (2:23.04) and 800m (1:48.46). During the Tyson Invitational, Pierre opened with a 46.00 in the 400m, while Taylor set a Jamaican national record of 1:46.11 in his 800m season debut. Masai, meanwhile, established career best times in the mile (3:58.82) at the Razorback Invitational and 3,000m (7:43.96) at the Tyson Invitational.
Rivaldo Marshall races in the 800m again after a career best of 1:46.30 as runner-up to Taylor during the Tyson Invitational. Joining Marshall are Razorback teammates Josh Rammage, Julian Carter, and Wyatt Green.
“We still need to run the 800m guys, who have only had one race, along with some of the 400m guys who were sick, they need another race,” noted Case. “There’s a few guys who are on the border of time qualification that we need to run as well.”
Freshman sprinter Karabo Letebele from South Africa will contest the 60m. Dapriest Hogans and Jamarion Stubbs compete at 200m while Zander Cruzan and Zyaire Nuriddin race in the 400m.
The 60m hurdles include Karamoko Sacko and Cooper Williams while James Sankei will race in the mile. Juriad Hughes and Link Lindsey are entered in the long jump. Abraham Johnson and Lindsey are scheduled to triple jump.
