No. 1 Razorbacks complete mission with 21st NCAA Indoor Championship
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico – An impressive weekend of performances combined for 63 team points and a national team title for the No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
This marks the 21st NCAA Indoor championship and 42nd overall for the Arkansas men’s program. It’s the first sweep of men’s and women’s national titles since Oregon in 2016.
Behind the 63 points for the Razorbacks the runner-up team was Georgia (40) followed by Florida (34), Washington (31), and Texas Tech (29).
Jaydon Hibbert set the winning tone with a collegiate record on his first and only attempt in the triple jump. Traveling a distance of 57-6.5 (17.54), the 18-year-old Hibbert claimed multiple records – Jamaica national record, World U20 record, Arkansas school record.
The previous records included the UA school record of 57-1 (17.40) by Arkansas legend Mike Conley in 1985, the World U20 record of 56-5.25 (17.20) by Melvin Raffin of France in 2017, and the Jamaican record of 56-4.75 (17.19) by Arkansas alum Clive Pullen in 2017.
Charlie Simpkins of Charleston Southern set the previous collegiate record of 57-5 (17.50) in 1986.
Arkansas closed out the meet with a victory in the 4 x 400 relay with a time of 3:02.09 with a foursome of Connor Washington (46.48), James Benson II (44.91), Ayden Owens-Delerme (46.56), and Chris Bailey (44.14). Bailey’s split is the second fastest ever indoors.
Owens-Delerme bettered the previous collegiate record in the heptathlon while finishing as runner-up to Georgia’s Kyle Garland. Owens-Delerme totaled 6,518 points while Garland won with 6,639 points.
(more to follow)
