Myles Richter fourth in SEC 10,000m, scoring first Arkansas points

BATON ROUGE – The first day of the SEC Outdoor Championships included points for No. 1 Arkansas in the 10,000m with its lone entrant, Myles Richter, placing fourth at Bernie Moore Stadium on Thursday evening.

Racing in the 10,000m, the lone track final on the first day of the conference meet, Richter posted a time of 30:22.71, just one place back from his bronze medal performance a year ago.

Alabama’s Victor Kiprop won the 10,000m in 29:58.43 over Tennessee’s Yaseen Abdalla (30:00.18) and Rogerio Amaral of South Carolina (30:15.90).

Through three finals held on the first day, including the hammer and javelin, Georgia scored 18 points over 17 for Alabama and 14 for Ole Miss. The five points in the 10,000m for the Razorbacks is currently 10th overall.

A trio of Razorbacks in the decathlon currently are in 5-6-11 place with Daniel Spejcher, a silver medalist a year ago, leading the way with a tally of 3,962 points. Marcus Weaver follows at 3,955 with Noah Swaby totaling 3,408.

Spejcher started the day with 852 points in the 100m as he ran 11.04, followed by a 22-2.25 in the long jump (757), with a 49-11 in the shot put (803), a 6-3.5 high jump (731), and finished with a 49.91 in the 400m (819).

Weaver’s events included an 11.46 (761), a windy 22-10 (804), a career best 49-4.5 shot put (793), a 6-8.25 high jump (840), and 51.26 400m (757).

Among three qualifying prelim races, the Razorbacks advanced a pair in two events.

Ayden Owens-Delerme won his prelim heat of the 400m hurdles in 49.12, second best overall and No. 3 on the UA all-time list behind 48.49 for Kemar Mowatt (2017) and a 49.08 by Sam Glover (2000).

Georgia’s Caleb Cavanaugh led the field with a 49.04 while two-time defending NCAA Champion Sean Burrell of host LSU was the last qualifier to the final on time with a 50.32.

Leroy Russell ran in the fifth and final section of the 800m, needing to better 1:49.29 to reach the final. He finished runner-up with a time of 1:49.19 to claim the ninth and final spot.

In the 200m, which was interrupted by a lightning delay, Lance Lang ran 20.77 to finish 13th overall while Connor Washington clocked 20.90 to place 15th overall. Washington ran in the first prelim, prior to the delay, while Lang contested the first heat after the delay.