Razorback Invitational attracts high caliber competition

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas competes this weekend hosting the Razorback Invitational, which features 10 schools ranked among the top 30 nationally with programs who have produced four world-leading marks with an additional four collegiate leading marks in the 2026 season.

The 14-team women’s field is led by No. 1 Illinois, No. 2 Georgia, and No. 3 South Carolina. It also includes No. 6 Texas Tech, No. 9 Oregon, No. 10 Florida State, No. 17 Kentucky, No. 25 Arkansas, No. 27 Florida, and No. 28 Texas. Additional programs competing are LSU, Miami, Michigan, and Oklahoma State.

The two-day meet at Randal Tyson Track Center includes the pentathlon and distance medley relay on Friday, with action starting at 11:45 a.m. while Saturday’s events begin at 9:55 a.m. The Razorback Invitational will stream live on SEC Network + both days (5:30 pm on Friday, 11 a.m. on Saturday) and live results are available at flashresults.com.

“It’s a team meet and we have quality competition coming in,” stated Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson. “We’re excited to line up and see where we’re at. This is our second meet of the season while other schools have been in two or three meets by now.

“We have a lot of young people and new people to the program. We’re prepared and they understand it because that’s the type of program that we’re in and it’s the type of pressure we apply in practice. We expect to go out and compete with the very best each time we line up.”

WOMEN | Current 2026 World & Collegiate leaders

After breaking the collegiate record in the 600m two weeks ago, Sanu Jallow-Lockhart will race in the Invitational 800m on Friday. Jallow-Lockhart holds the UA record with a time of 1:59.77 from the 2025 season.

Another key event for Arkansas on Friday is the distance medley relay. In 2024 Oregon broke the facility and meet record with a 10:47.50 performance that was the fastest collegiate time ever run in the month of January. The Razorback school record of 10:49.14 was set in 2023.

“For us it will be the DMR, we’re going to try to go after it and get it done,” noted Johnson. “That’s a critical thing for us to do. The 4 x 400m relays will be good but we don’t know if we’re quite ready to run after it like we want to.

“The 800m should be really good along with the 400m and 200m. Also, we’re going to run a really hard 3,000m with Sydney Vaught. Plus we will have Heidi Hudson in the pentathlon. This meet has everything we need in terms of competition to go out there and do our very best. Now we’re looking to execute and have a little fun in the process.”

Six of the top 10 times posted in the 4 x 400m relay this season were set by teams competing in the Razorback Invitational, led by the 3:28.16 world leader Georgia ran at the Clemson Invitational. Arkansas (3:30.79) and Texas Tech (3:32.27) rank third and fifth followed by South Carolina (3:32.63), Florida (3:34.55) and Texas (3:35.36) at 7-9-10.

Vaught will be joined by teammates Josphine Mwaura and Bradley Weimer in the 3,000m that also includes professional Courtney Frerichs, the 2021 Tokyo Olympic silver medalist in the steeplechase, along with Arkansas alums Logan Jolly and Taylor Werner.

UA alums in the 400m include Rosey Effiong and Paris Peoples along with pro Bailey Lear. Effiong and Lear teamed up for relay gold in the 4 x 400m at the 2025 World Indoors.

Hudson aims to improve upon her pentathlon career best of 3,992 points that placed her sixth in the SEC Indoor Championships a year ago. At the Arkansas Invitational, Hudson set PRs in the 60m hurdles (8.70) and long jump (20-10 | 6.35) and also high jumped 5-10.75 (1.80).