Krissy Gear collects fourth All-America honor this season
EUGENE, Oregon – Arkansas finished the NCAA Championships on Saturday with 17 points to place 15th in team scoring after Krissy Gear supplied four points in the 1,500m at Hayward Field.
Gear started the final day off for the Razorbacks with a fifth-place performance in the 1,500m as she posted a time of 4:11.01. It’s the fourth All-America honor this season for Gear, who earned a pair at NCAA Indoor and then another in the NCAA cross country meet.
BYU’s Anna Camp won the 1,500m in 4:08.53 over a 4:09.42 for Colorado’s Sage Hurta, the NCAA Indoor mile champion.
“To finish 15th in the nation is what a lot of programs wish they could attain once in their careers,” stated Arkansas women’s head coach Lance Harter. “Our perspective has been to win everything and win for so long.
“This national championship meet was just kind of rugged and challenging from the very first event, the 4×100. We didn’t finish in the semifinal, and we lose a great sprinter in Tiana Wilson. That just seemed to be the negative momentum and burden we had to carry.”
USC claimed the team title with 74 points over Texas A&M (63), Georgia (37.5), Alabama and North Carolina A&T (31).
“We kept fighting, getting points in the 10,000m, pole vault, and 1,500m, and duking it out as best we could,” Harter said. “These points are cherished and hard to come by.
“It’s been a long season and it has taken its toll. That’s something that is reality, and everybody is faced with that. We were able to win the SEC triple crown this season, while also claiming the national indoor championship and finish 10th at the national cross country meet.”
Action on the final day also included Shafiqua Maloney in the 800m, Lauren Gregory in the 5,000m and the 4×400 relay.
Starting in lane 1, Maloney led the 800m field of 10 through the first 600m, splitting 28 seconds at 200m, 57.63 at 400m, and 1:28 at 600m. Georgia’s Amber Tanner challenged and took over the lead at 600m, but she was soon passed by Clemson’s Laura Barton.
The field then started to slip ahead of Maloney and Tanner into the homestretch. Maloney finished ninth in a time of 2:04.09 with Tanner 10th in 2:04.27. Virginia’s Michaela Meyer won the race in 2:00.28 over Barton (2:00.65).
Gregory, up among the top seven at earlier stages of the 5,000m race, posted a time of 16:13.49 to finish 21st.
The Razorbacks 4×400 relay crew included Morgan Burks-Magee, Jada Baylark, Maloney (50.41) and Paris Peoples (52.96). They ran 3:28.78 to finish ninth.
