Razorbacks break distance medley record, become fifth fastest school

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas broke the distance medley relay school record by two seconds with a time of 9 minutes, 20.09 seconds to highlight action in the Arkansas Qualifier on Friday at the Randal Tyson Track Center.

“Those guys ran great in a great competition,” said Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “Couldn’t ask for a better race to set up and try to qualify. We have to be one of the top 12 teams in the country in order to make the field. The kids did a great job and it was a great night for the DMR.”

Featuring a group of elite teams racing in the distance medley relay fast times were in abundance once again with Washington winning the event with an American record of 9:18.81, the third fastest collegiate performance all-time.

Virginia finished second in 9:18.95, the fourth fastest performance all-time as the Cavaliers became the third fastest school. Oklahoma State, who clocked a collegiate record of 9:16.40 last year in this meet, placed third in 9:19.73, the sixth best performance all-time.

Arkansas bettered the previous school record of 9:22.13 in placing fourth in the race. The 9:20.09 ranks the Razorbacks as the fifth fastest school with the eighth best performance. Iowa State finished fifth in 9:24.22 while Texas did not finish.

The anchor leg splits included 3:51.94 for Virginia’s Gary Martin, 3:53.34 for OSU’s Ryan Schoppe, 3:54.53 for Washington’s Luke Houser, and 3:54.68 for Razorback Peter Maru.

Ben Shearer, who led off the school record a year ago, supplied a 2:51.78 opening leg over 1,200m. Then a 45.76 from TJ Tomlyanovich produced the fastest 400m leg in the field. The next best split on the second leg was 46.13 by Oklahoma State’s DeJuana McArthur.

“Being part of the DMR last year, and then taking two seconds off last year’s time shows we were looking to get that qualifying time today for NCAA Indoor,” noted Shearer. “We came out here and accomplished that.

“We have new guys on the team with Riley Wells and Peter Maru. Those two additional men on the team have really done their jobs. They’ve been putting in the work and today just shows that little bit of the expectation that we came in with. Maru has a championship mindset like nobody else. He’s out there to win whoever he is racing.”

Riley Wells handled the third leg over 800m for Arkansas with a split of 1:47.87. Then Peter Maru anchored for the Razorbacks with a 3:54.68 over 1,600m.

“Everybody went in there pretty confident,” said Wells. “We were told to just do our job, get the baton and turn your brain off. We all did that really well. It’s easy when you’ve got a guy like Peter on that mile leg, you just give him the baton and he’s pretty confident in what he’s going to do.

“It was a lot of fun to get that done. That’s the kind of team we are. It’s my first year here and that’s what we preach all year long that we’re a championship caliber team. We’re going to go out there an compete with everyone. I think we proved it today. We’ve been proving it all year that we’re training hard and we’re going to be ready.”

Bucknam added: “It was the first time ever for Peter to have a relay baton in his hand. Every day is a new experience for him right now. He shows you his versatility from the 5,000m all the way down to a 3:54 split.

“Ben has been on every race, literally, since the SEC Cross Country Championships has been a personal best. He continues to do an outstanding job with a 2:51 lead off. The guys in the middle with TJ and Riley both did an outstanding job in the middle to get Peter in position. Then he ran with some of the best milers around, the Washington anchor (Luke Houser) is the NCAA champ in the mile.”

Distance Medley Relay | Collegiate All-Time List

Washington bettered the previous American record of 9:19.93 set in 2015 in New York by a professional foursome of Matthew Centrowitz, Mike Berry, Erik Sowinski, and Pat Casey.

Tai Brown continued to lower his time in the 60m hurdles following a pair of 7.74s last weekend in the Tyson Invitational. During the prelims he improved to 7.72 in leading the field. Then in the final he claimed the victory in 7.63, the third fastest ever at Arkansas.

“Honestly, it feels really good,” stated Brown. “It feels like we’re getting it done at practice with the necessary reps. The first two meets didn’t necessarily go my way. Me and Coach Case had a discussion, we made an adjustment and it shows. Staying consistent with the starts is the main thing we’ve been working on.

“The back end of the race is pretty much golden. It feels great to be consistent and going down in time.”

Brown only trails Omar McLeod (7.45) and Phillip Lemonious (7.54) on the Razorback all-time list as he moved ahead of a 7.64 for Michael Thomas in 2003.

Brevin Sims, who set a career best 7.75 in the prelims, clocked 7.76 in the final to place third. William Spencer placed fifth in a career best of 7.84 while Elijah Morris finished sixth in 7.89.

Brown moved to equal No. 7 with his prelim time of 7.72 while Sims moved to No. 9 with his 7.75. Morris set a career best of 7.87.

Steven McElroy set an indoor career best of 46.09, equal No. 12 on the UA all-time list, as runner-up in the 400m to a 45.90 by Arizona State’s Gamali Feliz. Connor Washington finished fifth in 46.20 while Brandon Battle placed sixth in 46.70.

The debut for Apalos Edwards in the triple jump produced a mark of 52-0.5 (15.86) to place him third. Jah-Nhai Perinchief won the event with a mark of 53-8.25 (16.36). Arkansas alum LaQuan Nairn finished second in the long jump at 25-0.75 (7.64) behind a 25-3.25 (7.70) for South Plains Andrew Stone.

Razorback alum Austen Dalquist won the mile in a career best of 3:56.43 over Alabama’s Hillary Cheruiyot (3:56.83). An additional career best was turned in by Kirami Yego, who placed fifth in 4:00.48 as he knocked eight seconds off his previous best.

Career best times followed for Jacob McLeod (4:04.33), Tommy Romanow (4:04.89), and Myles Richter (4:08.36).

Elias Schreml set a career best 1:48.27 in placing sixth in the 800m while Isaac Carney established a career best of 1:51.05.