Ralford Mullings wins discus with 200-5 toss

STANFORD – Razorback thrower Ralford Mullings won the Stanford Invitational discus with a winning mark of 200 feet, 5 inches (61.09) on Friday afternoon at Cobb Track and Angell Field.

In becoming only the second Arkansas thrower to surpass 200 feet, Mullings moves to No. 2 on the UA all-time list, trailing only the school record of 205-4 (62.60) set in 1982 by Scott Lofquist while moving ahead of the 196-9 (59.98) effort by Marty Kobza in 1985.

A consistent series included the following marks after a first-round foul. Mullings claimed the lead in round two with a 193-2 (58.88) and then reached 189-6 (57.76) in the third round. An improvement in round four had Mullings hitting a mark of 194-0 (59.14). His best effort came in the fifth stanza and Mullings finished with a 198-6 (60.51).

“Today was pretty flat, to be honest, I really couldn’t find a rhythm,” noted Mullings. “I just kind of muscled it instead of being relaxed and not doing what I normally do in practice. It’s a season opener and I hope to build from here.

“It’s called a season opener for a reason. I’m just glad to get into competition and start working towards later in the season and start building. It’s a decent meet. Throwing the shot put is a different technique and it messes with my discus. I’m still trying to recover from that. All I can do is put in the work and show up on game day.”

Teammate Jordan West placed fourth with a toss of 178-0 (54.27), his best season opener ever, and moved to No. 6 on the UA all-time list ahead of a 177-4 (54.05) by Erich Sullins in 2018.

Earlier in the day Matthew Lewis-Banks finished second in the 110m hurdles with a 13.91 clocking behind the winning time of 13.90 by Northern Colorado’s Jerome Campbell.

Lewis-Banks won his prelim heat in 14.07 while teammate Shaka Bogan clipped the last hurdle and fell in another prelim race. His time of 14.51 ranked 10th overall, just missing the nine-person final.

Three Razorbacks advanced to the final of the 100m. James Benson II led the trio with a career best of 10.35 for third place. Lance Lang (10.48) and Connor Washington (10.49) followed in fifth and sixth place.

Benson’s collegiate debut at 100m produced a 10.46 (0.8 wind) in the prelims.