U.S. leading 54.91 for Rachel Glenn in 400m hurdles

GAINESVILLE – Razorback Rachel Glenn raced over the 400m hurdles for the first time since the 2022 SEC Championships and produced a U.S. leading and career best 54.91 seconds on the first day of the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational hosted by Florida.

Glenn, who equaled a collegiate record indoors in winning the NCAA high jump title, improved her previous best in the hurdles from a 56.43 when she finished sixth at the 2022 Florida Relays, which are also held on the Percy Beard Track.

This marked the first 400m hurdle race for Glenn since finishing sixth at the 2022 SEC Championships in 57.09 after a 56.78 prelim.

Michigan’s Savannah Sutherland, who won the 2023 NCAA title in 54.45, ran second behind Glenn for a majority of the race, but managed to close over the final hurdle and claim the victory in 54.86 over the last couple of strides before the finish line.

Sutherland, from Canada, and Glenn produced the fastest pair of times on the 2024 world list with their performances. A 55.37 by Australian Sarah Carli was the previous best time this season. Glenn bettered the previous U.S. leading time of 55.70 set by Campbell’s Chastity Pickett during the Florida Relays.

Finishing behind Glenn were a pair of SEC hurdlers in Kyla Robinson-Hubbard of Tennessee, who won another section in 55.98, as well as LSU’s Shani’a Bellamy in 56.23.

Glenn is No. 2 on the UA all-time list behind the 53.08 school record set by Britton Wilson in 2022 and moved ahead of the 55.71 by Sparkle McKnight in 2013 that held the school record for nine years.

Arkansas alum Shafiqua Maloney raced over 1,500m for the first time and won with national record of 4:15.30, which bettered the previous St. Vincent and the Grenadines record of 4:20.78 set by Bigna Samuel in 1994 at the Mt. SAC Relays.

Razorback redshirt freshman Mia Cochran finished as the top collegian in the field as runner-up to Maloney in a time of 4:15.59. This was Cochran’s first collegiate 1,500m and she bettered her previous best of 4:20.68 set in high school.

Leading the field for a majority of the race, Maloney split 47.31 over the first 300m, then had laps of 1:11.32, 1:11.49, before covering the final lap in 1:05.18. Cochran started with a 48.44, then had laps of 1:11.53 and 1:10.68 while in 10th and seventh place. Closing with a 1:04.94 moved Cochran into second place ahead of Clemson’s Gladys Chepngetich, who placed third in 4:15.67.

Additional Razorbacks in the race included Tiana LoStracco, fourth in 4:16.35, along with Mary Ellen Eudaly finishing 11th in a career best 4:21.24 and Laura Taborda placing 14th in a career best 4:22.03.

Arkansas sprinters produced fast times in the 200m, but some were assisted with too much wind. The first section of the 200m Invite featured a crew of SEC sprinters who were aided by a 4.1 wind.

McKenzie Long of Ole Miss won the race in 22.18 with South Carolina’s JaMeesia Ford runner-up in 22.41 while LSU’s Brianna Lyston finished third by winning another section in  22.46 with a 3.1 assisting wind.

Georgia’s Kaila Jackson (22.51) and Razorback Anning Anning (22.65) were third and fourth in the first section and placed fourth and fifth overall. Kaylyn Brown finished ninth overall with a 22.77 (-1.8 wind) that placed her third in the second section. Rosey Effiong clocked 23.01 in the first section and placed 15th overall.

Brown’s effort moves her to No. 4 on the UA all-time list as the freshman only trails Janeek Brown (22.40), Veronica Campbell (22.41), and Taylor Elllis-Watson (22.48). The previous outdoor best for Brown was 23.77 in high school.

In the long jump Invite, Arkansas alum Taliyah Brooks placed seventh with a mark of 20-7.25 (6.28) that was produced into a 5.3 wind. Razorback Nia Robinson finished eighth with a leap of 20-7 (6.27) that moves her to equal No. 6 on the UA all-time list along with Peter-Gaye Beckford (2008) and Etienne Chaplin (2009).