Stona, Mullings both better UA discus school record
WALNUT, Calif. – Involved in a very competitive discus competition with the sun shining and warmer temperatures on the final day of the Mt. SAC Relays, Razorbacks Rojé Stona and Ralford Mullings each broke the Arkansas school record in the discus.
The previous mark of 205-4 (62.60) was set in 1982 by Scott Lofquist. Stona eclipsed the mark first with a first-round toss of 211-4 (62.79) while Mullings followed with a 205-6 (62.64) on his first throw.
Mullings set his best mark of the day with a round two throw of 206-0 (62.79). Stona, meanwhile, bettered his career best of 213-7 (65.11) in the fifth round with a 215-8 (65.75).
In the final stanza, Stona improved again to 218-7 (66.64).
Stona big toss moves to No. 5 performer on the all-time collegiate list and No. 4 on the Jamaican all-time list. The second and fourth rounds for Stona measured 209-2 (63.77) and 209-3 (63.78) in produced a very impressive series.
Collegiate record holder Mykolas Alekna of California won the competition with a mark of 224-3 (68.35), which is the No. 3 collegiate performance all-time. British thrower Lawrence Okoye finished third at 217-0 (66.15) with Mullings in fourth place.
In the shot put, Jordan West placed third in a high quality field as he produced a toss of 66-0.25 (20.12) to match the same mark he had in Stanford for his season opener a couple of weeks ago.
Arizona’s Jordan Geist won the event with a 69-8.75 (21.25) while Mexico’s Uriel Munoz reached a distance of 68-5.25 (20.86) as runner-up while China’s Tia Zizhong placed fourth with a 64-3.25 (19.59).
The series for West included marks of 64-9.75 (19.75), 64-2.25 (19.56), 64-5 (19.63), 66-0.25 (20.12), and a pair of fouls.
Arkansas didn’t have the final day start out very well when a dropped baton occurred in the 4 x 100m relay. The line-up of Ayden Owens-Delerme, Lance Lang, Connor Washington, and James Benson II had trouble with the second exchange of the baton.
Things picked up when Chris Bailey finished third in the 400m with a 45.30 while Benson clocked 45.50 to win the first section and placed fifth overall. Bailey, who has a career best of 45.25, moved to No. 7 on the UA all-time list.
The meet finished with Arkansas placing third in the 4 x 400m relay with a time of 3:03.33, which ranks No. 7 on the UA all-time list. The Razorback foursome included Owens-Delerme (47.38), Lang (46.58), Benson II (45.41), and Bailey (43.96).
Georgia won the 4 x 400m in 3:02.00 with Texas A&M runner-up at 3:03.30 while Arizona State finished fourth in 3:04.69.
Leroy Russell III registered a 1:48.39 for third in his section and fifth overall in the 800m.
Jumping in Long Beach, Wayne Pinnock finished as the top collegian with a leap of 26-3.5 (8.01) in his outdoor opener. Jacob Fincham-Dukes won the competition with a windy 27-0.75 (8.25).
Carey McLeod placed third overall with a 26-2.25 (7.98) while Ryan Brown finished fifth at 25-2.5 (7.68). The three Razorbacks only attempted the first three rounds of the competition.
Evening racing at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific produced a pair of career best times at the 1,500m distance for Elias Schreml and Ben Shearer.
Schreml won his section in 3:39.50, and placed 16th overall, while Shearer posted a 3:42.43 as runner-up in his section.
