Jordan West wins, Rojé Stona 2nd in Stanford Invitational shot put

STANFORD – A 1-2 finish in the shot put produced big throws from winner Jordan West and runner-up Rojé Stona on the second day of the Stanford Invitational.

A winning toss of 66-0.25 (20.12) by West came from his first throw. Three additional impressive marks followed with measurements of 63-11.75 (19.50) in round three, a 65-4.75 (19.93) in round four and 65-3.5 (19.90) to close out the series.

“Having consistency was my main goal,” noted West. “First outdoor meet of the year and it’s nice to get out in some decent weather. It helps to throw a smaller diameter shot after indoor nationals.

“Rojé is a really good shot putter. It was a pretty good day for both of us and a good weekend for all the throwers. We’ll take it and go into our next two weeks of training hard and have better performances.”

While West established an absolute Arkansas record with his indoor UA school record of 67-2 (20.47), he moves to No. 2 on the UA outdoor all-time list.

Stona, who finished an inch ahead of third place, set an outdoor career best of 62-11.5 (19.19) and moves to No. 5 on the UA outdoor all-time list. This indoor season Stona improved his career best to 65-6 (19.96).

“To throw over 19 meters is a good start for me, knowing I was consistent over 19m indoors,” said Stona. “To me outdoors is a completely different event than indoors, because the indoor ball is much bigger than the outdoor ball, plus dealing with the conditions outside.

“It’s a good feeling knowing the person you’re training with is doing as well as you.”

Late night distance racing on Friday included a 28:00.58 career best by Patrick Kiprop in the 10,000m, which moved him to No. 2 on the UA all-time list, only trailing the Arkansas school record of 27:52.10 set by Shawn Forrest in 2009.

After challenging late and moving into the lead over the last couple of laps, Kiprop finished sixth. Arkansas alum Gilbert Boit placed 10th with a 28:19.04. Jacob McLeod was also in the race and he registered a career best of 28:28.73, moving to No. 9 on the UA all-time list. Myles Richter posted a 29:23.38.

In the 5,000m, a career best of 13:43.82 placed Elias Schreml third in the second section of the race. Schmrel improved his previous best of 13:58.48 from 2021. Ben Shearer ran a career best of 3:44.14 in the first section of the 1,500m to place sixth.

On Saturday, Arkansas posted a time of 40.55 to win the first section of the 4 x 100m relay with a crew of Jeremy Farr, Lance Lang, Connor Washington, and James Benson II. A second squad in the race ran 41.82 with a line-up of Matthew Lewis-Banks, Brevin Sims, Phillip Anderson, and Devontie Archer.

Racing in his 800m debut, Chris Bailey ran 1:49.82 to place second in the second section of the event.

Arkansas capped the meet by running four and a half 4 x 400m relays. The Razorbacks won the event with a time of 3:08.42 from a crew of Farr (48.34), Lang (45.69), Washington (47.72), and Benson II (46.67).

Placing fourth in the race in 3:10.33 was the Arkansas B squad of Archer, Brandon Battle (45.40), TJ Tomlyanovich (46.84), and Ethan Carney (48.05).

The C relay crew ran 3:16.16 with a foursome of Tristan LaVan, Leroy Russell III, Phillip Anderson, and Jadon Bartholomew. A 3:19.70 from the D group included Brevin Sims, Ricardo Banks, Yariel Soto Torrado, and Daniel Spejcher. Competing in another section, Noah Swaby and Marcus Weaver ran the first two legs of the relay.

Arkansas produced a 2-5-8 finish in the triple jump. Ryan Brown hit a mark of 51-4.5 (15.66) to lead the Razorback trio. John Baker followed with a 50-8 (15.44) distance while Link Lindsey went 47-10 (14.58).