No. 1 Razorbacks compete at LSU Invitational

BATON ROUGE – Visiting the venue that will host the SEC Outdoor Championships in a couple of weeks, the No. 1 Razorbacks will compete in the LSU Invitational on Saturday at Bernie Moore Stadium.

Teams joining host LSU include Alabama, Baylor, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Indian Hills CC, New Orleans, Ole Miss, and Tennessee. In recent national rankings, Tennessee is No. 3 while Alabama is No. 4 with LSU at No. 5 and Florida No. 6.

Live results will be available here: https://live.deltatiming.com/meets/19474.

“This is a real good test for us, because pretty soon we are into the championship season,” Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam said. “This is a big, important weekend for a lot of reasons.

“it’s a progression for us going through the season, improve our craft and get better at what we’re doing. We’re getting towards the championship season and our kids have been training since September. A lot of things are starting to come together.  We’re getting ourselves competition ready for the SECs and national championships.”

Defending NCAA decathlon champion Ayden Owens-Delerme will try his hand in new event this weekend as he competes in the 400m hurdles.

“The one thing that is a little different is that we are running Ayden Owens-Delerme in the 400m hurdles this weekend,” stated Bucknam. “That will be fun to watch to see how handles that event.

“We’re always trying to reinvent ourselves and push the limits of what our guys can do. This is an event where he combines two of his talents since he is an outstanding hurdler and 400m runner. For a lot of reasons, it’s fun to try something new with him and we’ll see how it goes.

Owens-Delerme has a career best of 45.07 in the 400m as well as 13.76 in the 110m hurdles. The field of 18 in the race at the LSU Invitational includes Sean Burrell of LSU, the two-time defending NCAA champion, along with six of the top 12 hurdlers this season.

Razorback teammates in the 400m hurdle field include Devontie Archer, Jeremy Farr, and Brevin Sims.

“He looks good doing it in practice, but it’s another thing to run that full race,” noted Bucknam. “It kind of takes the pressure off some of the other stuff he does. I really believe in people kind of reinventing themselves a little bit and testing some waters in things you’re not familiar with. He’s the perfect candidate for that.”

The triple jump will feature NCAA Indoor champion Jaydon Hibbert along with teammates Carey McLeod, Wayne Pinnock, and Link Lindsey among a field of 10.

Razorback sprinters will race at 200m and 400m while middle distance events will have a crew in the 800m and a couple of entrants in the 1,500m.

The first section of the 400m includes Chris Bailey and James Benson II along with Georgia’s Elija Godwin and Florida’s Ryan Willie. In the first section of the 200m, Lance Lang will race against Georgia’s Matthew Boling along with a pair of LSU alums in Vernon Norwood and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake.

The 110m hurdle squad of Tre’Bien Gilbert, Phillip Lemonious, Matthew Lewis-Banks, and Sims will have company with the multi-eventers Noah Swaby, Daniel Spejcher, and Marcus Weaver contesting that event along with the discus.

This weekend Jordan West is in the shot put along with Yariel Soto Torrado, who will also pole vault. In the discus are Rojé Stona and Ralford Mullings along with Swaby, Spejcher, and Weaver.

Also in the discus field is LSU’s Claudio Romero, the defending NCAA champion, who won the title while at Virginia. Entered in the shot put is LSU’s John Meyer, who won the 2023 SEC Indoor title.

Contesting the Invitational section of the long jump along with LSU alum JuVaughn Harrison are John Baker, Shakwon Coke and Ryan Brown. A trio of Razorbacks in the high jump is led by Kason O’Riley and includes Tomas Ferrari and Christian Matamoros.

Arkansas alums competing in the meet include Omar McLeod (110m hurdles), Erich Sullins (hammer), Marqueze Washington (200m), and Hunter Woodhall (400m).

Drake Relays

A pair of Razorbacks competed in the 5,000m at the Drake Relays on Thursday evening. Josh Shearer placed 18 in 14:11.90 while Reuben Reina posted a 14:24.82 in his first collegiate 5,000m.

Arkansas | LSU Invitational entries