Rojé Stona earns a second SEC Field Athlete of the Week honor

BIRMINGHAM – For the second consecutive week Razorback Rojé Stona has earned the SEC Field Athlete of the Week honor. This time it was for his accomplishment in the shot put after collecting the award the previous week with a discus performance.

Stona set a shot put meet record in winning the John McDonnell Invitational with a career best of 65-10.5 (20.08), which is No. 3 on the Arkansas all-time list. Currently, Stona is the only collegian ranked among the top five in both the shot put and discus this season.

The previous week he finished second in the Mt. SAC Relays discus, becoming the No. 5 collegiate performer all-time with a 218-8 (66.64) career best mark.

Stona bettered the John McDonnell Invitational meet record of 64-2.5 (19.57) set by Oklahoma’s Kevin Bookout in 2007 on his first-round mark of 64-8.75 (19.73). An improvement in round two measured 65-3.25 (19.89). Then in round five Stona added seven more inches to his winning distance with a 65-10.5 (20.08) and defeated teammate Jordan West, who finished third, in the process.

This season West (66-0.25|20.12) and Stona have become only the second and third Razorbacks to eclipse the 20-meter mark in the shot put as they pursue the school record of 66-9.5 (20.35) set by Marty Kobza in 1985.

In national event rankings, the Razorbacks are No. 1 in the discus for the second consecutive week with a four-person average of 188-11 (57.58) from Stona (218-8|66.64), Ralford Mullings (206-0|62.79), West (178-1|54.27), and Ayden Owens-Delerme (153-0|46.64).

Arkansas remains No. 1 in national team rankings. The top 10 includes Texas Tech, Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Clemson, BYU, Texas, and Nebraska.