No. 12 Arkansas among five top 25 schools at LSU Invitational

BATON ROUGE, La. – As the outdoor season progresses towards the conference meet, the No. 12 Razorbacks compete in the LSU Invitational on Saturday, May 1, inside Bernie Moore Stadium. The host Tigers are currently No. 1 in the national ratings index produced by USTFCCCA.

“We’re making good progress in our sprint area and had a few breakthroughs last week,” said Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “We are still looking to improve and will see how things go with Philip Lemonious in the 110m hurdles and Jeremy Farr in the 400m with their forward progress.

“We need to sharpen up our relays and get better overall as we work towards the first championship that is coming up with the conference meet in two weeks.”

Teams scheduled to compete in the LSU Invitational include No. 9 Alabama, Alabama State, No. 4 Florida, Memphis, New Orleans, No. 25 Ole Miss, Tulane, and Xavier (La.). Field events begin at 10:45 a.m. for the Razorbacks while running events start at 11:55 a.m. and conclude at 3:45 p.m.

Currently there are 11 SEC schools among the top 25. Other men’s programs among the top 25 include No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 13 Georgia, No. 14 Kentucky, No. 21 Mississippi State, and No. 22 Auburn. The SEC Championships will be held May 13-15.

LSU athletic venues will be open to full capacity this weekend and admission to the track and field meet is free. Live results will be available at deltatiming.com (http://results.deltatiming.com/lsu/tf/2021-lsu-invitational), but no live stream will be available. Updates throughout the meet are also available on Razorback social media.

In the 110m hurdles, five of the nation’s top 10 times are represented by the schools entered in the meet. LSU’s Damon Thomas (13.22) tops the collegiate list in 2021 with Alabama’s Robert Dunning (13.28) equal second best. With wind-aided times of 13.52 and 13.55, Arkansas’ tandem of Tre’Bien Gilbert and Carl Elliott, III, rank seventh and ninth.

“Tre’Bien and Carl had some breakthroughs this past weekend, and that was without Philip Lemonious in there,” noted Bucknam. “The hurdlers are doing an outstanding job of running big-time times.”

Jumpers John Baker and LaQuan Nairn will compete in both the long and triple jump. In the pole vault the Razorbacks have a trio that includes Etamar Bhastekar, Rhett Nelson and Braedon Maddox. Ruben Banks seeks to add more distance to his three-foot hammer improvement from this past weekend.

James Milholen and Jalen Brown lead a group six Razorbacks in the 400m, which includes Nick Hilson, who is scheduled to race in the 400m and 400m hurdles. Roman Turner and Kristoffer Hari headline the Arkansas sprinters in the 100m, including Josh Oglesby in his first race of the season.

Kieran Taylor leads an Arkansas foursome in the 800m, which includes Ethan Carney, Jadon Bartholomew, and Reese Walters, while Carter Persyn contests the 3,000m steeplechase.

Following their first decathlon of the season, a trio of Arkansas multi-eventers will contest the discus, long jump, and 110m hurdles.