Patrick Kiprop breaks 5,000m school record racing in Chicago

FAYETTEVILLE – As Arkansas hosted the Tyson Invitational, with the first day taking place on Friday, Razorback distance runner Patrick Kiprop broke the school record in the 5,000m with a 13:24.32 performance in Chicago.

Kiprop broke the UA record of 13:26.44 set by Amon Kemboi in 2022 as he finished runner-up in the 5,000m Invitational held at the Windy City Invitational hosted by Wisconsin in Chicago. Stanford’s Charles Hicks won the race in 13:22.05 with teammate Devin Hart third in 13:33.49. Kiprop’s previous best indoor was 13:45.90.

On the current collegiate list heading into this weekend those two marks rank No. 11 and 12 on the NCAA descending order list where the top 16 times qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque.

At the Randal Tyson Center, James Benson II ran his first 400m of the indoor season and placed second in his section and third overall with a 46.37. Teammates following Benson in the 400m field included Jeremy Farr (47.25), TJ Tomlyanovich (47.33 PR), and Devontie Archer (47.67).

During the prelims of the 60m hurdles, Matthew Lewis-Banks lowered his career best to 7.71, which is equal No. 6 on the UA all-time list with Ayden Owens-Delerme. Tre’Bien Gilbert posted a 7.80 to make the final. Phillip Lemonious ran 7.76 to win the first prelim to advance to the final.

An odd final, in which Lemonious fell out of the blocks and did not finish, had Gilbert placing third with a 7.77 while Lewis-Banks ran 7.95 in finishing sixth. The three Razorbacks were in adjacent lanes with Lewis-Banks in four, Lemonious in five, and Gilbert in six.

Florida’s Kurt Powdar, from lane one, claimed the final in 7.75 over a 7.76 for Houston’s De’Vionn Wilson.

Improved jumps in the final two rounds moved John Baker and Ryan Brown into second and fourth place, respectively, in the Invitational long jump.

Baker produced a leap of 25-5.5 (7.76) in the final round while Brown improved to 25-2.5 (7.68) in the fifth stanza.

A third venue for Arkansas this weekend included the Husky Classic hosted by Washington. Myles Richter clocked 13:53.09 for 10th in his section of the 5,000m. Jack Williams produced a career best of 8:17.50 for eighth place in section 2 of the 3,000m.