Razorbacks battle to defend NCAA Indoor title, finish as national runner-up

BOSTON – Battling until the final event, the defending champion Razorbacks came up short of claiming another NCAA Indoor championship as Texas Tech totaled 50.5 points for the team title with Arkansas runner-up at 41 points.

The rest of the top 10 teams in the men’s field included Florida (39), Northern Arizona (31), North Carolina (26), Texas A&M (24), Oklahoma State (23), USC (23), Iowa (21), and Washington (20).

“It was a slugfest, and a slog more than anything,” stated Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “I don’t know any team that wanted to take it away and run. It just seemed like it was back and forth with every event.

“We just came up a little bit short. I’m proud of the team and how they competed. I know they wanted it bad, but we did the best we could.”

This is the fourth national runner-up for the Razorbacks in the past 12 seasons at the NCAA Indoor meet. Previously they finished second in 2012, 2014, and 2016.

The podium finish for the Razorbacks continues an impressive streak for Bucknam. Dating back to the national championship last March, the Razorbacks have finished among the top four in four consecutive national championships between indoor, outdoor and cross country seasons.

Romaine Beckford defended his high jump title and equaled his career best in the process with a clearance of 7-5.25 (2.27). In the shot put, Rojé Stona broke the Razorback school record by a quarter of an inch with a heave of 67-2.25 (20.48) as the silver medalist.

Challenging Beckford was Caleb Snowden of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, who cleared 7-4.25 (2.24) as runner-up. Beckford cleared 7-4.25 on his first attempt and then needed three attempts to match his career best. Beckford is the first Razorback indoor champion since Kenny Evans in 1998.

Stona matched his previous career best of 65-6 (19.96) in the second round of the shot put, then improved to 67-2.25 in the fourth round to clip the school record of 67-2 (20.47) established last year by Jordan West. Stona, who finished 13th a year ago, added a 65-7.5 (20.00) mark in the fifth round and fouled in the sixth.

SEC champion Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan of Ole Miss won the shot put with a mark of 69-0.75 (21.05) while South Carolina’s Dylan Targgart finished third at 65-5.5 (19.95).

“Rojé is phenomenal competitor and what a blessing he’s been for our team,” stated Bucknam. “He’s a great talent and just a great kid. He brought us back into this meet when we were down after a few events where we thought we were going to score a few more points and he goes out and gets a silver medal in the shot put and breaks the school record.”

Those 18 points from a pair of Jamaicans had Arkansas leading the field with 37 points with eight of 17 events completed.

That team total included a point from Marcus Weaver who placed eighth in the heptathlon with 5,859 points. Daniel Spejcher finished ninth at 5,857 while Yariel Soto Torrado was 11th with 5,783 points.

Lance Lang picked up three points with a sixth place in the 200m as he posted a time of 20.95.

Heading into the 4 x 400m relay, Texas Tech led with 45.5 points as Arkansas had 40 while Florida and Northern Arizona were tied with 30.

Arizona State won the relay in 3:02.35 with Florida runner-up in 3:02.53. Texas Tech finished fourth in 3:30.37 while Arkansas placed sixth in 3:04.77. The Razorback crew included Connor Washington (47.63), Lang (45.05), TJ Tomlyanovich (45.93), and Steven McElroy (46.16).

“Everybody competed and we put a bunch of points on the board,” said Bucknam. “But Tech was a little bit better than us at the end.

“We came and competed to win, we’re the SEC champs. We came up a little bit short and are national runners-up. This is a great team, they’re a great group of guys, and they compete hard. We just came up a few points short.”