World-leading performance earns Kaylyn Brown SEC honor

FAYETTEVILLE – Razorback sprinter Kaylyn Brown earned the SEC Freshman of the Week accolade following her world-leading performance in the 400m as she produced a career best time of 49.95 seconds to defeat an elite field at Florida’s Tom Jones Memorial.

Adding to the stellar performance by Brown was the fact she was racing in lane 9, so the entire field was behind her on a staggered start. The best ever performance in lane 9 for the 400m is a 49.65 executed by American sprint legend Alyson Felix for a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.

The top three athletes in the 400m at Florida produced career best times that placed them as No. 7, No. 10, and No. 11 performers on the collegiate all-time list and ahead of Sydney McLaughlin’s best collegiate time of 50.07 that ranked No. 9 all-time prior to the race.

Finishing behind the 49.95 by Brown, which improved her previous outdoor best of 53.11 from high school, were Georgia’s Aaliyah Butler (50.05), Arkansas teammates Amber Anning (50.08) and Nickisha Pryce (50.13), the NCAA Indoor gold and silver medalists, and South Carolina’s JaMeesia Ford (50.81). They all set outdoor career best times.

On the Arkansas all-time list, Brown ranks second to Britton Wilson’s collegiate record of 49.13 set in 2023. Wilson set her first outdoor collegiate record in the 400m with a 49.51 performance at last year’s Tom Jones Memorial.

As a 19-year-old freshman with the Razorbacks, Brown misses being an U20 athlete in 2024 by one day as her birthdate falls on December 31.

However, the only U20 Americans faster than Brown’s 49.95 are Athing Mu (Texas A&M) with a 49.57 in 2021 and a 49.89 by Sanya Richards (Texas) in 2004. On the world U20 all-time list, Brown would rank as the No. 6 performer while holding the No. 3 performer and No. 5 performance on the U.S. U20 all-time list.

The weekend in Florida for Brown also included a one-second PR in the 200m as she posted a time of 22.77 on Friday. Then she was part of both Razorback relays on Saturday.

Brown ran the third leg in the 4 x 100m relay as Arkansas won its section in 43.13, fourth fastest in UA history, to finish as the second best collegiate team in the meet behind a 43.05 by LSU.

On the 4 x 400m relay, Brown ran second leg and gave the Razorbacks a decisive lead as she moved into the lead at the 200m mark of her carry. Arkansas improved its collegiate leading time to 3:26.10 with a victory over Houston (3:28.36), Texas A&M (3:29.03), Georgia (3:30.23), and LSU (3:30.39).