Productive final day for Razorbacks at Tyson Invitational

FAYETTEVILLE – The final day of the Tyson Invitational at Randal Tyson Track center featured a competitive shot put held inside the track oval and a tight finish in the 800m.

Arkansas finished third and fourth in the shot put event. Jordan West hit a mark of 65-9.75 (20.06) while teammate Rojé Stona set a career best with a distance of 64-7.75 (19.65), which moved him to No. 4 on the UA all-time list.

LSU’s John Meyer set a PR of 66-9.75 (20.36) to claim victory by one centimeter (quarter inch) over Nebraska’s Jonah Wilson. Other Razorbacks in the Invitational shot put were Ralford Mullings (55-6.5|16.93) and Ayden Owens-Delerme (49-3.75|15.03) as they placed ninth and 10th.

Racing in the 800m Invitational, Razorback Leroy Russell III improved his indoor best to 1:47.31 to place fourth and now ranks No. 6 on the UA all-time list. Teammate Ricardo Banks posted a career best time of 1:48.42 to finish ninth. In another section of the 800m Ethan Carney ran a season best of 1:50.98 to place fifth.

Chris Bailey paced the second section of the 800m, supplying splits of 24.29, 26.35 [51.27], 27.55 [1:18.82]. Winning the section and placing first overall was Florida’s Sam Austin in a collegiate-leading 1:46.06 with Iowa State’s Jason Gomez runner-up in 1:46.53.

“The standout was the 800m with Leroy Russell running 1:47.31, which is a PR for him indoors,” said Arkansas associate head coach Doug Case. “Rojé Stona threw a PR in the shot put and it moved him up on the NCAA list.

“Having a showcase for the shot put was really fun. I went over and watched that competition and it’s fun to see the shot put inside in the oval. It was a great competition.”

Today marked the anniversary of the 3:01.96 relay time posted on Feb. 11 in 2006 by a United States All-Star team, which included Wallace Spearmon, Jr. on the second leg. That time remains the Tyson Invitational meet record as well as the Tyson Center facility record.

Florida threatened both records with a winning time of 3:02.18, which included an anchor leg of 44.59 by Ryan Willie. Arizona State placed second in 3:03.09 with the Razorbacks third at 3:05.84. Following were LSU (3:05.91) and Texas State (3:06.48).

Arkansas’ relay included Lance Lang (46.12), Jeremy Farr (46.09), Brandon Battle (46.74), and TJ Tomlyanovich (46.89).

“We didn’t run anyone on the relay that we ran the week before,” noted Case. “We have a lot of good depth and good guys. It’s going to be a fight to make that relay in the end.”

The Razorbacks remain the world leader at 3:01.09 as Florida ranks second and Arizona State is now fourth with their times from Tyson Invitational.

Rhett Nelson placed 10th in the Invitational pole vault with a clearance of 16-9.5 (5.12) In the other pole vault section, Arkansas multi-event athlete Yariel Soto Torrado placed fourth with a career best of 16-9.5 (5.12), which would score 947 points in the heptathlon.

Racing in Seattle at the Husky Classic hosted by Washington, the mile was the featured event for the Razorbacks on Saturday.

Ben Shearer led the Arkansas crew with a 4:00.60 while Elias Schreml clocked 4:01.35. They were followed by Reuben Reina (4:04.59) and Tommy Romanow (4:12.28).