SEC Indoor first day productive for No. 3 Razorbacks
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 3 Arkansas scored 19 points on the first day of the SEC Indoor Championships and are currently in a tie for fourth place with five finals scored.
Florida is the current team leader with 39 points while Ole Miss is second at 34.
The Razorbacks finished runner-up in the distance medley relay for eight points and picked up nine points from the combo of Isabel Van Camp and Sydney Thorvaldson in the 5,000m final. G’Auna Edwards added a pair of points by finishing eighth in the pentathlon and long jump.
In qualifying for Saturday finals, Arkansas led with 11 advancing in six events. The Razorbacks qualified four for the mile and two each for the 200m and 400m. LSU followed with eight advancing in five events while Florida and Kentucky had seven apiece.
Arkansas posted a time of 10:57.26 in the distance medley relay to finish behind a 10:56.39 by Ole Miss. Both teams bettered the meet record of 10:59.21 set by Alabama in 2021. Kentucky (11:00.18) and Florida (11:05.99) were third and fourth.
Establishing a lead through each exchange of the baton for the Razorbacks were Krissy Gear (3:21.45), Paris Peoples (53.02), and Kennedy Thomson (2:10.48), with Lauren Gregory on the anchor leg (4:32.31). It was the ninth fastest time in program history.
Van Camp and Thorvaldson both generated career best times to place fourth and fifth in the 5,000m. Van Camp clocked 15:55.02 and moves to No. 6 on the UA all-time list. Her debut in this distance back in January resulted in a 16:17.81.
Thorvaldson, who had an indoor debut of 16:07.80 a few weeks ago, lowered her career best to 16:00.14 and moved to No. 9 on the UA all-time list.
Edwards supplied the first team point by placing eighth in her first pentathlon of the season, scoring 3,927 points. Her tally came from 8.38 in the 60m hurdles (1,044 points), 5-4.5 in the high jump (783), 37-3 in the shot put (618), a leading 20-9.75 in the long jump (956), and 2:44.14 in the 800 (526).
Then an opening round leap of 20-1.5 (6.13) placed Edwards eighth in the long jump for another team point.
Through the prelim races, four Razorbacks advanced in the mile, led by a 4:40.91 for Logan Jolly. Gregory also earned an auto qualifier in 4:41.63. Qualifying on time were Gear (4:42.29) and Thomson (4:46.58). Thomson snared the final spot on time, placing sixth in the second heat and 10th overall.
Jada Baylark won her heat of the 60m in 7.21, the third time she has posted that time this indoor season. Then she blasted a career best of 22.89 in the 200m, moving to No. 2 on the Arkansas all-time list behind the school record of 22.43 set by Veronica Campbell in 2004.
Joanne Reid followed Baylark into the final of the 200m with a career best 23.25 that ranks her No. 10 on the UA all-time list.
Britton Wilson set a career best of 51.92 as runner-up in her section of the 400m prelims, moving from No. 10 to No. 5 on the UA all-time list. Her effort was fourth overall in qualifying while Rosey Effiong was seventh with a 52.56.
With the top eight times advancing from a total of eight heats, Paris Peoples (53.11), Morgan Burks-Magee (53.22) and Ashanti Denton did not advance. They placed 10th, 13th, and 18th overall.
Shafiqua Maloney eased through the 800m prelims with a 2:04.99 heat victory. Daszay Freeman qualified in the 60m hurdles as the final time qualifier with an 8.15.
