Lemonious reaches NCAA final in 110 hurdles, Boit sets career best in 10k

Shawn Price June 9, 2021

NCAA Wednesday results NCAA Decathlon - first day results

EUGENE, Oregon – The lone final on the first day of the NCAA Championships held at Hayward Field produced a career best time for Gilbert Boit in the 10,000m while Phillip Lemonious was the only Razorback to reach a final from the semifinal rounds on Wednesday.

Boit finished 13^th with a clocking of 28:09.11 to better his previous best of 28:25.15 from 2019. The improved time moves Boit from No. 6 to No. 4 on the UA all-time list. Boit only trails the trio of Shawn Forrest (27:52.10), Josphat Boit (28:07.27), and Peter Kosgei (28:08.97).

The 10k was won by Tulsa’s Patrick Dever in a meet record 27:41.87 to eclipse the previous mark of 28:01.30 set in 1979 by UTEP’s Suleiman Nyambui. The top 10 finishers in the race bettered the previous meet record.

Lemonious ran a career best of 13.43 (0.2 wind) amid the rain during the semifinal of the 110m hurdles and posted the top qualifying time for the final. Racing in the same semifinal heat was teammate Carl Elliott, III, who clocked 13.84 for fifth and end up 15^th overall.

Lemonious becomes the first Razorback to reach the final of the 110m hurdles since Omar McLeod claimed the 2015 title. Lemonious trimmed his previous best of 13.44 established in the NCAA West Preliminary and remains No. 3 on the UA all-time list behind McLeod (12.97) and Kevin White (13.41).

The Razorback 4×100 relay posted a time of 39.47 seconds with a foursome of Josh Oglesby, Kris Hari, Roman Turner, and Jalen Brown. Arkansas finished fifth in the semifinal heat and were 13^th overall.

In the 4×400, Arkansas clocked 3:08.15 to place sixth in the heat and 16^th overall. The Razorback foursome included Brown, Rhayko Schwartz, Jeremy Farr, and James Milholen.

Through the first day of the decathlon, Markus Ballengee and David Spejcher are currently in 10^th and 13^th place with scores of 3,949 and 3,903, respectively.

Ballengee’s total came from marks of 11.04 (852) to equal his PR in the 100m, 21-8 ¼ (6.61) in the long jump for 723 points, a shot put toss of 49-8 ¼ (15.14) for 798 points, a high jump of 6-4 ¾ (1.95) for 758. He capped the first day with a 49.93 in the 400m for 818 points.

Spejcher opened with an 11.05 (850), then long jumped 22-7 ¼w (6.89) for 788, hit 47-7 ¾ (14.52) in the shot put for 760 points, and high jumped 6-1 ¼ (1.86) to add 679. A time of 49.75 in the 400 netted 826 more points.

The decathlon continues at 9:30 a.m. (11:30 CT) on Thursday while the final for Lemonious will be held on Friday along with the 5,000m final which includes Amon Kemboi.