Relay meet records broken by Razorbacks in Spring Invitational

FAYETTEVILLE – The Razorbacks broke a pair of relay meet records, both anchored by Jelani Watkins, on a picture perfect day during the Arkansas Spring Invitational held at John McDonnell Field on Saturday.

Arkansas broke the 4 x 100m relay meet record with a winning time of 39.28 that bettered a 39.31 set by Arkansas in 2018. An Arkansas B crew placed second in 39.94.

Running on the winning relay were Karabo Letebele, Tevijon Williams, Jamarion Stubbs and Watkins. The second Razorback squad included Steven McElroy, Jordan Pierre, Devyn Wright, and Zyaire Nuriddin.

The previous record holders for Arkansas included Kristoffer Hari, Kemar Mowatt, Obi Igbokwe, and Kenzo Cotton.

Closing out the meet with the 4 x 400m relay, a pair of Arkansas squads bettered the previous meet record of 3:06.45 set by a Razorback squad in 2012 that included Marke Niit, Akheem Gauntlett, Ben Skidmore, and Travis Southard.

The Arkansas A crew, which posted a winning time of 3:05.12, included Devyn Wright, Tyrice Taylor [1:31.54], Tevijon Williams (46.25), and Watkins (47.33). The Razorback B foursome clocked 3:05.41 as runner-up with a line-up of Zander Cruzan, Rivaldo Marshall [1:32.37], Dapriest Hogans (45.77), and Kevin Bello (47.27).

Earlier in the meet, Taylor and Marshall led the 800m Invitational through 600m in 1:18 range after splitting 51.02 and 51.10, respectively, at 400m. A third Razorback in the race, Josh Rammage, finished third in 1:49.65 behind a pair of runners from Indian Hills.

Dawson Welch placed third in the 1,500m Invitational with a time of 3:49.44.

Wind assisted times in the 200m had Wright leading the Arkansas crew with a 20.42w (+3.7 wind) as runner-up to a 20.39 for Damor Miller of Indian Hills while Jordan Pierre ran 20.52w in fourth. Karabo Letebele posted a 20.48w (+2.3 wind) to win another section.

Cooper Williams placed third in the high jump with a 6-11 (2.11) clearance while Link Lindsey finished eighth in the long jump with a mark of 23-8w (7.21).

The first foray in running the 400m hurdles started out very well for Abdoul Sy-Savane, until a change in his lead leg at hurdle 7 created a fall. Wichita State’s Jason Parrish won the race in a meet record of 50.58 to better the previous mark of 50.72 from 2012.