Junior College Hurdler Yoveinny Mota Signs With Arkansas
Arkansas women’s head coach Lance Harter announced junior college hurdler Yoveinny Mota signed a national letter of intent with Arkansas and will join the Razorbacks in January.
Competing for Barton County Community College in Kansas, Mota produced some of the fastest junior college times in the 60m and 100m hurdles on the way to claiming multiple medals.
She earned a silver medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2019 NJCAA Championships with a Venezuelan national junior record of 13.25 seconds. Indoors, Mota collected a pair of bronze medals in the 60m hurdles at the 2019 and 2020 NJCAA Championships.
Mota was also a member of Barton’s silver medal performance in the 4×100 relay during the NJCAA meet.
“We’re super excited about Yoveinny joining us and as early as January,” noted Harter. “We have a fantastic team and with the talents she has as a sprinter hurdler, she just makes Arkansas that much better. We look forward to her being an integral part of the future of Arkansas track and field.”
A career best of 8.27 seconds to win the 60H at Nebraska’s Husker Invite ranked Mota as the third best performer with the sixth best performance on the all-time NJCAA list. Additional marks of 8.36 and 8.39 rank ninth and equal 14th among all-time performances.
Mota’s 13.25 ranks sixth on the all-time NJCAA list while times of 13.31 and 13.44 are the eighth and 11th best performances. She also produced wind-aided times of 13.25 (2.2 wind) and 13.30 (2.1 wind), which rank among the top marks under all-conditions on the all-time NJCAA list.
Mota is from Caracas, Venezuela, and has represented her country in numerous international competitions. On the all-time Venezuelan list she currently ranks second in both the 60m hurdles and 100m hurdles behind national record times of 8.24 and 12.97.
“Her credentials go far beyond her junior college career as she has proven to be competitive on the world scene,” said Harter. “Obviously, we’re super excited that she has Chris Johnson to work with her. He feels there’s a lot of opportunity for development at a very elite level.”
During the 2019 season, Mota claimed gold in the 100m hurdles at the South America Junior Championships in Cali, Colombia, and placed fourth in the South America Championships held in Lima, Peru, while also competing in the Pam Am Juniors in San Jose, Costa Rica, as well as the Pan American Games in Lima.
Mota reached the semifinals during the 2018 IAAF World Junior Championships in Tampere, Finland, and finished fourth in the 2017 IAAF World Youth Championships held in Nairobi, Kenya.
