Dynamic Razorbacks ready to contend for NCAA Championship

EUGENE, Oregon – Arkansas enters the NCAA Championships ranked No. 1 with women’s action staring on Thursday at Hayward Field. The Razorbacks won the NCAA Indoor title back in March by five points over Florida.

In 2022, Florida was the most recent team to claim NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles in the same season while Arkansas achieved the feat in 2019.

The Razorbacks moved into the No. 1 position following the NCAA First Round competition, supplanting SEC team champion LSU from the position they held for six consecutive weeks.

“The amount of talent we have in a couple of different areas makes it special,” Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson said. “It’s unusual and atypical to have this many quarter-milers who have run this fast.

“We also have a great 400m hurdler with a high jump background along with a couple of distance runners, a vaulter, long jumper, short sprinter and hurdler, and both relays.”

Six SEC schools rank among the top 10 nationally heading into the national championship meet. Following Arkansas and LSU are No. 5 Florida, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 7 Georgia, and No. 10 Ole Miss.

Arkansas returns 26 points from last year’s NCAA Outdoor meet with a defending champion 4 x 400m relay, third and fourth place finishes for Nickisha Pryce and Rosie Effiong in the 400m, as well as a fourth place 4 x 100m relay.

The Razorbacks have won the 4 x 400m relay at the NCAA Outdoor meet on two occasions – 2013 & 2023. During the NCAA West First Round, Arkansas broke the outdoor collegiate record by 0.01 of a second with a 3:21.93 performance.

Arkansas currently holds both collegiate records in the 4 x 400m relay with an absolute best of 3:21.75 from the 2023 NCAA Indoor meet.

“We really have a dynamic team,” stated Johnson. “With this being my first year at the helm and having this type of team it’s a special time and special moment. It’s a great time to be a Razorback.”

A dominate Razorback 400m crew has produced 1-2-3 sweeps at the NCAA Indoor as well as both SEC Championships in 2024, and posted the top four times during the NCAA West.

Last season, Arkansas scored 19 points off a 2-3-4 NCAA Outdoor finish. In 2024, they totaled 24 points at the NCAA Indoor from a 1-2-3 sweep. In conference meets, the Razorbacks generated 31 points at the SEC Indoor (1-2-3-4-7) and 28 points at the SEC Outdoor (1-2-3-5).

No school has ever placed four individuals in the NCAA Outdoor 400m final. Of the six times a school has placed three in the final, Texas produced the most points with 24 off a 1-2-3 sweep in 1996, which is followed by 21 points by the Longhorns in 2014 from a 1-3-4 finish. Arkansas (2023) and South Carolina (2002) have both scored 19 points off a 2-3-4 finish.

The top three finishers for Arkansas in the SEC Outdoor final all produced times under 50 seconds as they moved to positions of No. 3-4-5 performers on the collegiate all-time list with a 49.32 from winner Nickisha Pryce, a 49.47 for 19-year-old freshman Kaylyn Brown, and 49.51 for Amber Anning.

Pryce just missed the Jamaican national record of 49.30 set in 2002 by Lorraine Fenton while Anning is just a tenth of a second off the British national record of 49.41 set in 2013 by Christine Ohuruogu.

Brown, who will turn 20 on December 31, became the fastest American 19-year-old, bettering the previous time of 49.57 set by Athing Mu in winning the 2021 NCAA title. Brown also ranks second on the world 19-year-old all-time list to a 49.42 set by Germany’s Grit Breuer as a silver medalist in the 1991 World Championships.

Rosey Effiong placed fifth with a 50.75 and the times by the Arkansas foursome in that SEC final add up to a 3:19.05 in the 4 x 400m relay.

In the NCAA West meet, Effiong improved her career best to 50.11. The four Razorbacks currently rank among the top seven on the 2024 world outdoor list at positions 2-3-4-7.

“It’s a vast array of talent, and they’re very competitive,” said Johnson. “They have the ability to work together. Three have run 49 seconds and another has run 50.11. Those are rare things. A lot of countries don’t have that type of talent on one team.

“To have them be cohesive and break the collegiate record  in the 4 x 400m relay was a goal of ours. Now to have the collegiate record indoors and outdoors at the University of Arkansas is pretty special.”

Arkansas also advanced in the 4 x 100m relay with the second fastest time in school history as its 42.70 from the NCAA West meet only trails the 42.65 the Razorbacks set in 2019.

The Razorbacks will be involved in three finals on Thursday – pole vault, long jump and 10,000m.

Freshman Rachel Homoly set a career best of 14-1.25 (4.30) during the NCAA West meet to reach the NCAA final, where she is one of seven freshmen in the field of 24. Nia Robinson, a transfer from South Florida, competes in the long jump. Robinson was a bronze medalist at the SEC meet with a mark of 21-2 (6.45) and has a wind-aided best of 21-11.75 (6.70) this season.

The Razorback tandem of Sydney Thorvaldson and freshman Paityn Noe will race in the 10,000m final. Thorvaldson registered a 32:36.47 performance to finish third in the Stanford Invitational while Noe, one of just two freshmen in the field, clocked 33:11.74 for ninth at the Bryan Clay Invitational. They rank fifth and eighth on the UA all-time list.

Arkansas will also contest nine semifinal events on Thursday. In addition to the 400m and both relay events, the Razorbacks have entries in the 100m & 200m with Ariane Linton, the 100m hurdles with Destiny Huven, the 800m with Sanu Jallow, the 400m hurdles with Rachel Glenn, and the 3,000m steeplechase with Laura Taborda.

The versatile Glenn, the 2022 NCAA Outdoor high jump champion at 6-4 (1.93), ranks second among collegians in 2024 with a 53.94 in the 400m hurdles and third among collegians in the high jump with an outdoor mark of 6-3.5 (1.92). Indoors, Glenn equaled the collegiate record of 6-6.75 (2.00) in winning the 2024 NCAA Indoor title.

Jallow broke the UA record in the 800m with a 1:59.29 silver medal performance in the SEC Championships. Jallow will race in the same semifinal heat as SEC gold medalist Michaela Rose, the collegiate leader at 1:58.37.

Linton improved her career best in the 100m to 11.07 from 11.31 and ranks No. 3 on the UA all-time list ahead of Veronica Campbell’s 11.10. Linton also advanced in the 200m with a windy best of 23.03.

Huven improved to 12.81w during the NCAA West 100m hurdles, and has a wind-legal career best of 12.82 from the 2022 NCAA semifinal. That season, competing for Wiscosin, Huven placed sixth in the final with a 12.92.

Taborda will contest her second NCAA semifinal in the steeplechase. She previously competed in the 2022 NCAA meet while with Eastern Kentucky.

Arkansas Schedule | NCAA Championships | Pacific Time

 Thursday | June 6

Saturday | June 8