Reuben Reina equals 48-year-old UA mile record, fastest Arkansan
FAYETTEVILLE – Razorback Reuben Reina equaled the oldest UA record with a winning mile performance of 3 minutes, 55.40 seconds during the Arkansas Invitational on Friday in the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Niall O’Shaughnessy set the standard of 3:55.4h in 1977 to win a race in Columbia, Missouri, during a quadrangular meet that included Arkansas, Missouri, Memphis State, and Drake. O’Shaughnessy just missed the then world record of 3:55.0h set in 1974 by Tony Waldrop of North Carolina.
Reina, who had a previous best of 3:59.91 set in 2024, defeated Evert Silva (3:58.11) and Tulsa’s Shay McEvoy (3:58.48) in the process of breaking the meet record of 3:57.97 set in 2019 by Chris O’Hare (adidas).
Arkansas alum Austen Dalquist paced the mile through 1,209m as Reina had splits of 58.07 (409m), 1:57.65 (809m), and 2:57.39 (1209m) before closing with 58.03 over the final two laps.
Reina also became the fastest Arkansan in the mile, bettering the times of 3:59.67 indoors and 3:57.4h outdoors set by Brian Baker in 1999.
Combined with Reuben Reina, Sr., who has a mile PR of 3:57.08, the pair have an average time of 3:56.24, which ranks eighth best all-time and the fourth fastest American duo.
Father – Son | Sub-Four Mile Average
| 3:50.66 | John Gregorek – Johnny Gregorek (USA) |
| 3:52.72 | Kip Keino – Martin Keino (KEN) |
| 3:53.62 | Abdi Bile – Ahmed Bile (SOM-USA) |
| 3:53.93 | Matt Centrowitz – Matthew Centrowitz (USA) |
| 3:54.55 | Eamonn Coghlan – John Coghlan (IRE) |
| 3:54.82 | Graham Williams – Jamie Williams (GBR) |
| 3:55.89 | Tim Hacker – Olin Hacker (USA) |
| 3:56.24 | Reuben Reina, Sr. – Reuben Reina, Jr. (USA) |
| 3:56.39 | Alan Culpepper – Cruz Culpepper (USA) |
Later in the meet Dalquist set a meet record of 7:53.64 in winning the 3,000m over current Razorbacks Brian Masai (8:10.37) and Timothy Chesondin (8:11.46). Dalquist bettered the previous meet record of 7:55.67 set by Peter Kosgei in 2007.
TJ Tomlyanovich set a career best of 1:16.50 to win the 600m Invitational and produced the third fastest time at the Tyson Center, and second fastest by a Razorback. He only trails the 1:15.18 set by Chris Bailey of Arkansas in 2023 and a 1:15.49 registered by Texas A&M’s Brandon Miller in 2021.
Brandon Battle set a career best of 1:17.39 in placing fourth in the Invitational race with Rivaldo Marshall fifth in1:19.85.
Arkansas freshman Karamoko Sacko claimed the 60m hurdles in 7.80 over teammates Brevin Sims (7.85) and Gabriel Emmanuel (7.91 PR) for a 1-2-3 sweep. Emmanuel earlier set a career best of 48-11 (14.91) to place fifth in the shot put.
A Razorback 1-2 in the 200m included career best indoor times for Steven McElroy (20.75) and Jaden Smith (20.90). Kevin Bello set a PR of 6.73 for third in the 60m final with McElroy sixth in 6.82.
Arkansas capped the first home meet of the season with times of 3:08.52 and 3:09.36 in the 4 x 400m relay to place second and third overall behind a 3:08.45 winning time by Texas.
The faster Razorback relay included Zaire Nuriddin (47.81), Steven McElroy (48.60), Jaden Smith (45.58), and Brandon Battle (46.53). The second group of Hogs who won another section of the relay included Connor Washington (48.63), TJ Tomlyanovich (46.22), Rivaldo Marshall (46.24), and Kevin Bello (48.27).
Davis Hemlerich’s debut in the 1,000m produced a winning time of 2:21.74 over a 2:22.00 by Oklahoma State’s Medhi Yanouei. Elias Schreml set a career best of 2:23.16 for third with Ben Shearer fourth in 2:23.63.
Schreml later won the 800m in 1:51.93 over a 1:51.96 by Logan Patete of Texas while Shearer finished fourth in 1:53.46. Helmerich won another section in 1:52.63 to place third.
In the long jump a 3-4 finish for Arkansas had Juriad Hughes reaching a distance of 24-11.75 (7.61) with Sebastian Berntsen at 24-5.5 (7.45).
