Pair of successful title defenses lead to 52 points on SEC Outdoor day two

BATON ROUGE – Razorbacks Jordan West and Wayne Pinnock each successfully defended SEC Outdoor titles in the shot put and long jump, respectively, on Friday during the second day of the conference meet held at Bernie Moore Stadium.

The pair of victories included others scoring in the same event, with 14 in the shot put and 21 in the long jump, while the multi-event group supplied 12 in the decathlon with Marcus Weaver establishing a career best as runner-up.

After two days of the SEC Outdoor Championships, with eight of 21 events scored, the No. 1 Razorbacks lead team scoring with 57 points. Georgia follows with 35, Texas A&M 34, Mississippi State 31, and Auburn 28.

West bettered the field with an Arkansas school record toss of 67-6 (20.57), which is a career best and bettered the UA record of 66-9.5 (20.35) set by Marty Kobza in 1985. West is the first Razorback to win a SEC shot put title since Marcus Clavelle in 2000.

Finishing fifth in the shot put with a mark of 63-11.75 (19.50) was Rojé Stona as Arkansas totaled 14 points in the event.

SEC Indoor winner, John Meyer of LSU, registered a mark of 67-3.25 (20.50) to place second while Kentucky’s Josh Sobota finished third at 67-0 (20.42). West opened with a leading mark of 67-0.5 (20.43) in round one. Meyer surpassed that distance with his best effort in round three. West reclaimed the lead in the fourth stanza.

Pinnock hit his winning mark of 27-5.5 (8.37) in the second round after an opening of 26-9 (8.15) in round one. Pinnock currently ranks second on the 2023 world list and is No. 3 on the Jamaican all-time list.

On the all-time collegiate list, Pinnock is equal No. 11 with Leroy Burrell (Houston), who is the current Auburn head coach, as well as Ohio State’s Zach Basil. Burrell achieved his mark in 1989 while Bazil was in 2018.

Among an impressive Arkansas all-time long jump list, Pinnock ranks No. 6. The crew ranking 1st through 5th includes Erick Walder, Jarrion Lawson, Melvin Lister, Robert Howard and Mike Conley, by half an inch or one centimeter.

Contributing to the 21 points scored in the long jump were teammates Carey McLeod, runner-up with a 26-8.5 (8.14) that ranks equal No. 9 on the UA all-time list, as well as Ryan Brown (25-2.75 | 7.69) and Shakwon Coke (25-2|7.67), who placed seventh and eighth.

Weaver bettered the decathlon field in the javelin with a throw of 215-4 (65.65) for 823 points. He was stationed in fourth place with 7,176 points heading into the final event with a medal finish a strong possibility as the two athletes ahead of him had scores of 7,208 and 7,202.

Setting a career best in the 1,500m by seven-plus seconds, Weaver’s time of 4:31.55 to finish third in the race generated 734 points to push his final tally to 7,910 points and into silver medal position, seven points ahead of bronze medalist >> Bair of Mississippi State.

Improving upon his previous best of 7.549 from the Mt. SAC Relays, Weaver moves to No. 5 on the UA all-time decathlon list.

Daniel Spejcher placed fifth with a score of 7,627 as Noah Swaby finished 11th at 6,663 to break the Costa Rican national record of 6,412 set in 1979 by Roberto McFarlane.

Scoring finals for Arkansas on the second day also included the 3,000m steeplechase and high jump.

Jack Williams posted a career best time of 9:0517 for sixth place. Jacob McLeod ended up 15th after falling during the race. In the high jump, a clearance of 6-10.25 (2.09) placed Tomas Ferrari seventh for a pair of points.

In qualifying events for Saturday finals, Phillip Lemonious (13.42w) and Matthew Lewis-Banks (13.77w) advanced in the 110m hurdles, along with Elias Schreml in the 1,500m (3:51.83), and James Benson II in the 400m with a career best of 44.97, No. 4 on the UA all-time list.

Ahead of Benson on the UA list are Roddie Haley (44.48), Terry Gatson (44.93), Obi Igbokwe (44.94). Benson moved ahead of Calvin Davis (45.04).