Penn Relays start with distance carnival

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The distance runners of the No. 17 Arkansas Razorback men’s track and field team took to the track Thursday night for the Penn Relays Distance Carnival, in Philadelphia, Pa.

We had an okay start tonight," head coach Chris Bucknam said. "Rick Elliott had a decent run in the steeplechase and got a good PR out of it. I was hoping to see our 5K guys perform better and run smart races. That is an important event for us. We closed the night with solid performances in the 10K."

Arkansas had four runners in the championship 5,000 meters. Freshman Eric Fernandez finished seventh in 14:06.32. Freshman Solomon Haile was 14th in 14:18.98. Junior Patrick Russell was 24th in 14:34.97 and junior Lane Boyer was 30th in 14:50.13.

Sophomore Rick Elliott finished eighth in the championship 3,000-meter steeplechase. He clocked a personal-best time of 9:07.77. In the final event of the evening, the championship 10,000 meters, senior Rio Reina finished 18th with a time of 30:41.14. Freshman Michael Golden, in his first collegiate 10K, clocked a 31:39.52, good for a 31st-place finish.

Events will continue Friday with the 400-meter hurdles at 8 a.m.