No. 1 Razorbacks claim 25th SEC Outdoor Championship

AUBURN – No. 1 Arkansas totaled 110.5 points in capturing a sixth consecutive SEC Outdoor Championship and its 25th in program history, tying the conference record held by Tennessee.

Alabama scored 94.5 points as team runner-up with Florida (78) placing third. The rest of the top eight teams included Texas A&M (64.75), Georgia (64), Tennessee (60.5), Texas (57), and LSU (48).

It was a double record day for sprinter Jelani Watkins as he equaled the UA record of 9.95 set by Jordan Anthony a year ago and then clipped the 200m record of 19.89 set by Wallace Spearmon, Jr. in 2005 with a winning time of 19.87.

Watkins scored 21.5 points in the meet to finish as the high point scorer for the SEC Outdoor Championships. After 20 points in the 100m and 200m, Watkins added 1.5 points as the anchor leg of the 4 x 100m relay that placed fourth in 38.53.

Another long-standing Razorback school record fell in the 400m as Jordan Pierre posted a career best of 44.12 as runner-up to a 43.95 by winner Samuel Ogazi of Alabama. The previous UA record of 44.48 was set by Roddie Haley in 1986.

In the 800m a first and third finish produced 14 team points from Rivaldo Marshall, who won in 1:45.21 while Tyrice Taylor clocked 1:45.71 in third place.

The Razorbacks secured the team title with 18 points in the 5,000m behind a winning effort from Ben Shearer who broke the SEC meet record with a 13:22.58 victory. Ernest Cheruiyot finished second in 13:23.23.

Another nine points were provided by Jerome Campbell (13.37) and Abdoul Sy-Savane (13.45) as the placed fourth and fifth in the 110m hurdles.

Arkansas closed out the meet with a third-place finish in the 4 x 400m relay with a time of 3:00.62 that ranks No. 3 on the UA all-time list. The Razorback foursome included TJ Tomlyanovich, Devyn Wright (1:31.12 800m), Zander Cruzan (45.54), and Pierre (43.96).