Razorbacks open outdoor campaign at 94th Texas Relays

AUSTIN, Texas – Arkansas begins the outdoor season with a crew of Razorbacks competing at the 94th Texas Relays this Thursday through Saturday, March 24-26, at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

In the history of the Texas Relays, Arkansas has won a total of 54 relay titles among six relay events and are scheduled to race in five relays – 4×100, 4×200, 4×400, 4×800, and sprint medley – this weekend.

“We like to win, first of all, and the guys love to compete,” said Arkansas associate head coach Doug Case. “We’ll be out there competing hard but knowing that we’ve also trained very hard this time of the year. We’re trying to get multiple races in the early outdoor season to prepare for later in the season when doubling back and running multiple days is needed at the conference and national meets.

“Predominately we’re just going to do relay races at this event while our hurdlers will be doing some racing as well. We get an opportunity to run everything from the 4×100 to the 4×800, so all of our guys will get a couple of races in early in the outdoor season.”

Live results will be available through pttiming.com at the following link: https://relays.texassports.com/.

Live coverage of the Texas Relays will be available on the Longhorn Network at the following times:

In addition to its tally of relay victories, the Razorbacks have also registered 19 wins among 10 individual events at the Texas Relays. The earliest victory was claimed by Clyde Scott in the 120y hurdles in 1948, while the most recent individual title came in 2018 with Kemar Mowatt winning the Invitational 400m hurdles.

“Besides the fact that its an Arkansas tradition to compete at the Texas Relays, and we’ve had great success there, the facility is beautiful and all those things,” said Case. “We have a bunch of kids out of Texas on our team and they grew up going to that meet all through high school. They get really fired up for it.

“They enjoy going there and their families get to come to the meet and watch them run. That’s one part of it for us. The other part is you get to have multiple races on multiple days, which I like to do this time of year. It’s sets up really well for us and it’s a great track meet.”

Action for Arkansas begins Thursday afternoon with Blanchard Montgomery IV and Jeremy Farr contesting the 400m hurdles while Etamar Bhastekar is entered in the pole vault.

Farr, who has competed in the 400m as a Razorback, will be racing in the 400m hurdles for the first time since 2019 when he posted a career best of 51.41 in high school.

“Jeremy has looked really good in training,” noted Case. “He hasn’t raced in the 400m hurdles since high school in 2019. We’ve kind of moved him into that realm this year. I think he can have a successful season in the 400m hurdles for us, he looks good out there.”

Friday competition starts early with 4×100 prelims at 9:55 a.m., followed by the 110m hurdles and 100m prelims. Racing in the 110m hurdles for the Razorbacks are Tre’Bien Gilbert, Matthew Lewis-Banks, and Brevin Sims while Cade Clark represents Arkansas in the 100m.

The sprint medley will be run at 5:15 p.m. on Friday, followed by the final of the 400m hurdles. Jalon Simpson makes his Razorback debut in the javelin at 6 p.m. among a field of 13 throwers.

Simpson’s last competition in the javelin occurred at the 2019 NAIA Championships when he won the national title with a career best throw of 232-11 (70.99). He faces a field of throwers which includes 2021 NCAA champion Tzuriel Pedigo of LSU as well as post-collegian Curtis Thompson, the 2016 NCAA champion for Mississippi State, who was also the NCAA silver medalist in 2019.

Arkansas has won the sprint medley at the Texas Relays on six occasions, the most recent victory in 2014. The Razorbacks still hold the meet record in the event with a 3:12.13 from 2000, which stood as the collegiate record for 17 years and is now No. 2 on the all-time collegiate list.

The meet record performance by Arkansas included Chandon O’Neal (20.5), Melvin Lister (20.6), Sam Glover (45.0), and James Karanu (1:46.0).

Saturday events for the Razorbacks include the 4×800, 4×200, 4×100 and 4×400 relays along with finals in the 110m hurdles and 100m.

In the history of the Texas Relays, Arkansas has won the 4×800 nine times, the most recent victory coming in 2014. The fastest Razorback squad at the Texas Relays was in 1983 with Tom Moloney, David Swain, Ed Williams, and Stanley Redwine posting a 7:16.63 to complete a three-year winning streak.

The Razorbacks claimed their lone wins in the 4×100 and 4×200 the same year with the same line-up for both relays. In 1985 the Arkansas foursome of Fred Cleary, Roddie Haley, Mike Conley, and Wallace Spearmon posted winning times of 39.0 and 1:20.93.

In the 4×400, the Razorbacks will compete among nine teams in the Cleburne Price, Jr. Invitational. Other schools include Baylor, Florida, Houston, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, and USC.

Ayden Owens, the indoor National Field Athlete of the Year and NCAA champion in the heptathlon, is scheduled to be part of the Arkansas 4×400 relay. He ran on the 4×400 once indoors this season for the Razorbacks, splitting 45.46 on the third leg as Arkansas posted a school record 3:03.18 at the Tyson Invitational.

“Right now, I’m looking at running Ayden on the 4×400 this weekend,” noted Case. “That would be a great opener for him. He did a tremendous job indoors for us. I love having him on the 4×400 because he’s a step-up guy.”

The Razorbacks also hold the meet record in an event no longer contested at the Texas Relays, the 4×1500. Arkansas won this event 24 times, including 12 consecutive victories from 1999 to 2010. The first win for the Hogs occurred in 1951, when it was the 4xMile.

A meet record time of 15:08.57 was established in 1999 with a quartet of James Karanu (3:52.1), Michael Power (3:46.7), Sharif Karie (3:52.1) and Seneca Lassiter (3:37.7).

Texas Relays | Arkansas Schedule

Thursday | March 24

 Friday | March 25

 Saturday | March 26