Razorbacks claim distance medley victory at Texas Relays

AUSTIN – Arkansas registered its first victory at the 96th Texas Relays, winning the distance medley relay in 11 minutes, 21.87 seconds at Mike A. Myers Stadium on a very windy Friday.

In San Marcos, Texas, Hannah Estes won the pole vault at the Bobcat Invitational hosted by Texas State. Estes improved her outdoor career best for the second consecutive day as she bettered the field of 16 vaulters with a height of 13-8.5 (4.18). Teammate Rachel Homoly finished fourth with a clearance of 13-2.5 (4.03).

Arkansas started the distance medley with Sanu Jallow (3:33.48) on the 1,200m leg followed by Aaliyah Pyatt (52.85). The Razorbacks trailed Texas at that stage 4:24.42 to 4:26.33.

Then Ainsley Erzen chased down the Longhorn on the third leg that covers 800m and gave Arkansas a commanding lead. Erzen split 2:06.70 to give the Razorbacks a 6:33.03 to 6:35.00 lead over Texas as she handed the baton to Mary Ellen Eudaly.

As Eudaly covered her 1,600m leg in 4:48.84 a new challenger emerged in the form of Texas Tech’s Juliet Cherubet, who won the 1,500m on Thursday evening in 4:17.67 while Eudaly placed fourth in 4:21.82. Cherubet anchored in 4:38.82, but she wasn’t able to catch Eudaly.

Arkansas registered its third Texas Relays victory in the distance medley relay as the time of 11:21.87 bettered the 11:24.32 for Texas Tech and 11:35.69 for Texas. Previous wins came in 2000 (11:26.14) and 2005 (11:23.73). This marked the 11th relay victory overall for the Razorback women at the Texas Relays.

Earlier in the day Arkansas advanced to the final of the University 4 x 400m relay with a 3:35.08 leading time from a foursome of Pyatt, Kaylyn Brown, Joanne Reid, and Ashanti Denton.

The Razorbacks were scheduled to race in the sprint medley (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m) with a line-up of Nickisha Pryce, Rosey Effiong, Amber Anning, and Jallow.

The meet was behind schedule by 30 minutes when the sprint medley was due to start. When communications between different stages of the check-in procedure broke down the result was four teams – Arkansas, Belmont, Houston, and TCU – of the nine-team field not starting the race.