Razorbacks collect three South Central Region accolades
NEW ORLEANS – South Central Region honors announced by USTFCCCA included accolades for three Razorbacks – freshman Jaydon Hibbert, head coach Chris Bucknam and associate head coach Travis Geopfert.
Hibbert, named Field Event Athlete of the Year, completed an undefeated season in the triple jump. He broke a 41-year-old collegiate record (57-7.75 |17.57A) by nearly a full foot in winning the SEC title with a world leading mark of 58-7.5 (17.87), which also bettered the World U20 record from 1985.
Then Hibbert came within a quarter of an inch in topping the same mark from 1982 as the meet record at the NCAA Championships, topping the field of 24 entrants by two feet with a 57-7.5 (17.56) as he became just the fourth freshman to ever claim the NCAA Outdoor title, and just the second to sweep NCAA titles in the same year.
This accolade adds to the conference honors Hibbert received in his freshman season. He was named SEC Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year in addition to SEC Outdoor Freshman Field Athlete of the Year. Indoors, Hibbert earned the USTFCCCA South Central Region Field Event Athlete of the Year along with SEC Indoor Freshman Field Athlete of the Year.
For the fourth time in his career at Arkansas, Bucknam earned South Central Region Coach of the Year for the outdoor season. Previously, Bucknam was honored with the honor during the outdoor season in 2009, 2013, and 2016. He also earned the Women’s Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2008 while at Northern Iowa.
Indoors, Bucknam has collected the region honor 13 times, three times while at Northern Iowa, and 10 times with the Razorbacks.
As the NCAA Outdoor runner-up team, Arkansas had three individual champions in Phillip Lemonious (110m hurdles), Carey McLeod (long jump) and Hibbert (triple jump) while collecting 12 first-team All-America honors.
The Razorbacks won the SEC Outdoor team title by 60 points with a total of 149 points. Arkansas produced five individual winners among 13 medalists overall (5 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze) and finished 1-2 in three conference events.
For the second consecutive year, Geopfert has collected the South Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year distinction for the outdoor season. He also received the honor during the 2023 indoor season, his fourth accolade with the Razorbacks and fifth overall.
In claiming his seventh region coaching honor overall, Geopfert enjoyed an outdoor season in which Arkansas swept the NCAA Outdoor long jump and triple jump with the same duo that accomplished the feat at NCAA Indoor – McLeod and Hibbert.
Geopfert totaled nine entries into the NCAA Championships, producing 31 of the 53 points as team runner-up. During the conference meet, his event group totaled 69 of the 149 team points.
Arkansas became just the second school to finish 1-2 in the NCAA Outdoor long jump, with McLeod and Wayne Pinnock, and it’s only the third time in NCAA history for a school to win the long jump and triple jump with different jumpers.
