Reina, Kiprop demolish mile & 5,000m Razorback records

FAYETTEVILLE – A pair of Arkansas school records were shattered Saturday by Reuben Reina in the mile and Patrick Kiprop in the 5,000m.

Reina finished third in a very competitive mile at the Razorback Invitational, clocking 3:53.95 to better his previous best of 3:55.40, which equaled the 1977 mile record set by Niall O’Shaughnessy.

Racing at the Terrier Classic in Boston, Kiprop produced a time of 13:11.67 to finish eighth in the 5,000m. Kiprop broke the previous UA record of 13:22.29 set by Yaseen Abdalla in December when Kiprop registered his previous best of 13:23.56.

Oklahoma State’s Fouard Messoudi broke the Razorback Invitational mile meet record in delivering a 3:52.65 victory ahead of a 3:52.81 runner-up finish by Oregon’s Simeon Birnbaum. The previous meet record of 3:54.54 was set in 2021 by Oregon’s Charlie Hunter.

Adballa placed fifth in this section of the mile and was sixth overall with a career best and Sudan national record of 3:55.31. Abdalla moves to No. 2 on the UA all-time list.

Among seven sections of the mile, there were 17 entrants who generated sub-four miles. Included in that group were Razorbacks Davis Helmerich (3:58.07) and Ben Shearer (3:58.56).

In winning the 60m hurdles, Vashaun Vascianna shaved a hundredth of second off his career best with a 7.63. The Jamaican hurdler is equal No. 3 on the UA all-time with Tai Brown and is behind a pair of Jamaican hurdlers in Omar McLeod (7.45) and Phillip Lemonious (7.54).

TJ Caldwell set a career best of 7.72 to place third and is now equal No. 10 on the UA all-time list. Karamoko Sacko finished fifth in 7.77 after setting a career best 7.71 in the prelims, which is =No. 8 on the UA all-time list.

Jordan Anthony produced the leading 60m time of 6.57 seconds in the prelims, moving to No. 2 on the UA all-time list behind a 6.56 school record by Kenzo Cotton in 2016. Anthony was one of four sprinters who did not race in the final, where the winning time of 6.67 was produced by Tennessee’s T’Mars McCallum.

Jack Turner, who has a career best of 6,000 points, won the heptathlon with a score of 5,869. Jaxon Bair scored 5,729 as runner-up and moves to No. 10 on the UA all-time list. Cooper Williams placed sixth with 5,185 points.

Bair started day two of the event with an 8.12 victory in the 60m hurdles with Turner runner-up at 8.17. Gabriel Emmanuel finished fourth in 8.21 and didn’t contest the pole vault.

Turner topped the field with a 15-1 (4.60) clearance in the pole vault while Bair followed with a 14-9 (4.50) effort. Williams led the trio in the 1,000m with a 2:39.10 for second followed by Bair (2:40.53) and Turner (2:44.01).

Apalos Edwards won the triple jump with a mark of 53-8.5 (16.37) with teammate Henry Kiner placing fourth with a 50-11.5 (15.53).

Jaden Smith sped to a career best of 45.82 to place second in his section of the 400m behind a world-leading 45.19 by Florida’s Jenoah McKiver. Canada’s Christopher Morales Williams, who set a world best of 44.49 on this track a year ago, won another section in 45.54 to place second overall.

Smith’s performance ranks No. 5 on the UA all-time list. Razorbacks with a pair of section wins included Brandon Battle (46.56) and Steven McElroy (45.83) as they placed seventh and eighth overall.

McKiver and Smith raced again on the anchor leg of the 4 x 400m relay. A 44.17 split by McKiver secured a 3:03.78 victory while Smith countered with a 45.00 split to complete a 3:04.39 performance by Arkansas with the No. 10 time on the UA all-time list.

The first three legs for the Razorbacks included Steven McElroy (46.39), Tyrice Taylor (46.60), and Rivaldo Marshall (46.40).