NCAA West Prelims May 28th-30th

[AT]

The West Prelims (the meet that decides who goes up against the athletes on the teams from the East prelims at the national meet) starts today. It's being held in Austin, Texas. The weather has delayed the start of things but it will get going soon. I will update on how the Razorbacks and Lady Razorbacks are doing.

Top 12 performers in each events will move on to the National Championships in Eugene.

[AT]

Devin Randall was the first competitor today in the Men's Discus Throw. He needed to have one of the top 12 throws to qualify for Eugene, but he didn't really get very close to that, as he finished 44th out of 48 with a throw of 158' 1"

[AT]

Then it came Jarrion Lawson's turn in the long jump and he is the first Razorback qualifier for the NCAA championships. He needed to have one of the 12 furthest jumps and he had the 4th with a jump of 26' 1.5"

[AT]

Next up was the women's 1500 meter run. Most of the running events will have two rounds to qualify for the National Championships. Therese Haiss for the Lady Razorbacks needed to finished in the top 24 to qualify for the next round and she did just that by finishing 9th with a time of 4:23.64

[AT]

Jarrion Lawson wasn't done after the long jump, though. He competed in the 100 meter dash first round also and needed to be in the top 24 to qualify for the next round where they will decide who goes to the National Championships. Jarrion was able to pull it off, finishing 13th in a time of 10.15.

[AT]

Next up was Taylor Ellis-Watson in the 400 meter dash for the Lady Razorbacks. She also needed to finish in the top 24 to move on to the next round and she did that easily, finishing 4th with a time of 52.54.

[AT]

The ladies weren't done yet. The 800 meter run came up and two runners were trying to advance to the next round by finishing in the top 24. Rebekka Simko and Chrishuna Williams were able to do that.

Chrishuna Williams finished 17th with a time of 2:09.42 and Rebekka Simko finished 23rd with a time of 2:09.97.

[AT]

The Men's High Jump brought the first pleasant surprise for the Razorbacks in these prelims. Ken LeGassey was somewhat of a long shot to qualify for nationals, but he did qualify with a PR of 7' 2.5", good enough for 7th place when he needed to finish in the top 12.

[AT]

The Women's 10000 meter run was next and the Lady Razorbacks did not disappoint.

This running event is just one round to qualify for nationals. All 48 ladies lined up and you had to finish top 12 to make it to the National Championships. Dominique Scott finished 3rd with a time of 34:25.46 and Diane Robison finished 11th with a time of 34:46.55.

[AT]

Unfortunately the day ended on a bad note. The Razorbacks had a chance to win nationals if all their stars qualified and a couple of surprises snuck in, but one of those stars just failed to qualify. Kemoy Campbell did not finish the 10,000 meter run. I do not know the reason, he just stepped off the track on the 6th lap.

[PrivateLesson]

Thank you for the updates.

[AT]

Thank you for the updates.

No problemo.

Today Arkansas started off with a very important event for the Lady Razorbacks, the pole vault. The ladies had four competitors who needed to finish in the top 12 to qualify for nationals and the Lady Razorbacks got three! I expected at least two, but three is great!

Sandi Morris finished in a tie of 1st with a clearance of 13' 11"(she only had to jump once to qualify), Desiree Freier also finished in a tie of 1st with the 13' 11" clearance. Ariel Voskamp battled to qualify for nationals, but in the end she finished 6th with a clearance of 13' 11". Big time for the Lady Razorbacks to get three more qualifiers for Nationals.

[AT]

The women's 100 meter hurdles' 1st Round featured two Lady Razorbacks who's main focus is the heptathlon. They are such good athletes, though, they qualified for these prelims in this event and the long jump, although they will already be competing in the heptathlon at the National meet.

To move on to the next round, these two athletes needed to finish in the top 24 and they both did just that!

Taliyah Brooks finished 6th in a time of 13.12 and Alex Gochenour finished 21st in a time of 13.44.

[AT]

Omar McLeod was the first male competitor for the Razorbacks today in the 1st round of the 110 meter hurdles. Needing to just finish in the top 24, McLeod finishes 1st with a time of 13.36 to move on to the next round.

[AT]

Then came the quarterfinals of the Women's 400 Meter Dash. As stated yesterday, Taylor Ellis-Watson qualified for this round by finishing in the top 24. Today, she needed to finish in the top 12 to qualify for the National Championships and she did just that by finishing 3rd with a time of 51.52.

[AT]

Yesterday, Jarrion Lawson qualified for Nationals in the Long Jump and the quarterfinals in the 100 meter dash. He just ran those quarterfinals and he needed to finish in the top 12 to qualify for the national meet in this sprinting event. He did that by finishing 9th with a time of 10.13

[AT]

The duo of Rebekka Simko and Chrishuna Williams qualified for today's 800 meter run quarterfinal to decide who will move on to nationals. The two Lady Razorbacks needed to finish in the top 12 to advance and they did!

Rebekka finished 2nd with a time of 2:03.57 and Chrishuna finished 5th with a time of 2:03.81.

[AT]

I mentioned earlier that Taliyah Brooks and Alex Gochenour, the heptathletes already qualified for nationals and already qualified for the quarterfinals in the 100 hurdles, were going to do long jump. I neglected to mention they are also participating in the high jump. That being said, since they were basically using this meet as practice for the heptathlon anyways, they did not finish in the top 12 to qualify for nationals in High Jump.

Gochenour finished in a tie for 33rd with a jump of 5' 6" and Taliyah Brooks finished in a tie for 40th, also with a jump of 5' 6".

[AT]

Devin Randall, the athlete who competed in the discus yesterday, competed in the shot put today, but did not qualify in this either. Needing to finish in the top 12, Randall finished 40th with a toss of 56' 1.75"

[AT]

The Women's 3000 meter steeplechase just finished. This running event was just one round to qualify for nationals. There were three heats and you had to either finish top 3 in your heat or be the next three fastest (in other words, finish top 12).

The Lady Razorbacks had three competitors and two of them qualified for nationals!

Jessica Kamilos finished 8th with a time of 10:02.60 and Shannon Klenke finished 11th with a time of 10:12.05.

[AT]

To wrap up the day, the Razorbacks had two male athletes compete in the 3000 meter steeplechase, Stanley Kebenei and Frankline Tonui. They had to be top 12 to qualify for nationals and Kebenei was able to do that by finishing 9th (1st in his heat) with a time of 8:49.57.

Tonui did not make it, though. He finished 23rd with a time of 9:03.54. That's somewhat of a surprise because I thought he would make nationals and maybe even sneak in to score. So that's another hit for the men.

[AT]

The men take another hit, probably the fatal blow if there already wasn't one, to their championship chances. Andrew Irwin no heights in the pole vault and will not qualify for nationals. Sad because it's his senior year. Not sure why, but Andrew passed the first three heights and then missed three straight on the fourth.

[RATTLER43]

I know.  My heart fell when I found out. 

[AT]

Sorry for the lack of updates, I was on the edge of my seat watching the Hogs game and keeping up with this meet.

So the first thing was the men's Triple Jump. The Razorbacks had two competitors, Rubin Owens and Clive Pullen. They had to have one of the 12 best jumps to qualify for nationals.

Rubin did not qualify by placing 30th with a jump of 49' 0.75".

Clive Pullen did qualify, though, with a jump of 51' 6.5" and placing 7th.

[AT]

The men's 4 x 100 meter relay team broke the school record and qualified for nationals with a time of 38.66, although something is under protest with the 4 x 1 right now, so I'm not going to get too excited and learn the protest is about Arkansas.

If the results stand, though, Arkansas's 4 x 100 meter relay team will be running in Eugene.

[AT]

The Women's 1500 meter run was next. Remember, Therese Haiss finished in the top 24 on Thursday to qualify for this quarterfinal. Today, she needed to finish in the top 12 to qualify for nationals. She wasn't able to do that, though.

She finished 21st with a time of 4:25.69. It would have been a pleasant surprise if she had qualified, but I didn't really expect her to. Great year for her anyways.

[AT]

The women's 100 meter hurdles was next. Now remember that the two Lady Razorbacks running in these quarterfinals are two heptathletes who were probably just using this as practice. But now they are qualified for the national meet after Taliyah Brooks finished 7th with a time of 13.28 and Alex Gochenour finished 11th with a time of 13.40.

[RATTLER43]

Men's 4x100m!!!!!!!!

[AT]

Men's 4x100m!!!!!!!!

Yep, it's official! New school record and they ran the fastest time to qualify. If they run that time at nationals, they could win the event.

On another note, Omar McLeod also qualified for the national championships with a fastest time in the 110 hurdles quarterfinals (13.22)

[AT]

The Women's 5K has concluded. The Lady Razorbacks had three competitors in the event. There were two heats so to be you had to finish top 5 in your heat or be one of the next two fastest times to qualify for the final.

Dominique Scott was the 1st place runner and obviously qualified for nationals in a time of 15:50.07.

Diane Robison (28th - 16:50.40) and Valerie Reina (44th - 17:34.80) did not qualify. I would say that Diane not qualifying for the 5K would be the only disappointment for the Lady Razorbacks this meet, but it's not a huge disappointment. Now Diane can just focus on the 10K at nationals and maybe score there.

The Men's 5K had one Razorback in it, Kemoy Campbell. After having to step off the track in the 10K two nights ago, Kemoy had some redemption by qualifying for nationals in the 5K by running a time of 13:50.90 and finishing 3rd.

[AT]

Amethyst Boyd for the Lady Razorbacks also qualified for nationals with a throw of 157' 3" and finishing 9th.

The Lady Razorbacks also qualified their 4 x 400 relay team to the National Championships by finishing 3rd with a time of 3:30.74.

[AT]

And to wrap up things, the Razorbacks 4 x 400 meter relay team qualifies for nationals with a time of 3:04 and change. That knocks off about 4 seconds off their previous best this season. This was a pleasant surprise, because I did not think their 4 x 400 would make it, much less run that fast.

[RATTLER43]

Irwin's out really looks large now.   Women's and men's have/had great shots. 

[AT]

ARKANSAS WOMEN QUALIFIERS FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

400 METER DASH
Taylor Ellis-Watson

800 METER RUN
Rebekka Simko
Chrishuna Williams

5000 METER RUN
Dominique Scott

10,000 METER RUN
Dominique Scott
Diane Robison

100 METER HURDLES
Taliyah Brooks
Alex Gochenour

3000 METER STEEPLECHASE
Jessica Kamilos
Shannon Klenke

4 x 400 METER RELAY
Arkansas (Swinton, C. Williams, R. Williams, Ellis-Watson)

POLE VAULT
Desiree Freier
Sandi Morris
Ariel Voskamp

JAVELIN THROW
Amethyst Boyd

HEPTATHLON
Alex Gochenour
Taliyah Brooks

[AT]

ARKANSAS MEN QUALIFIERS FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

100 METER DASH
Jarrion Lawson

5000 METER RUN
Kemoy Campbell

110 METER HURDLES
Omar McLeod

3000 METER STEEPLECHASE
Stanley Kebenei

4 x 100 METER RELAY
Arkansas (McLeod, Lawson, Cotton, Washington)

4 x 400 METER RELAY
Arkansas (Cotton, Lawson, McLeod, Washington)

HIGH JUMP
Ken LeGassey

LONG JUMP
Jarrion Lawson

TRIPLE JUMP
Clive Pullen

DECATHLON
Nathanael Franks

[MHSGrad]

Women still the favorites?

[AT]

Women still the favorites?

It's a very close team race on the women's side between multiple teams. I'm working on performance lists now after the East and West regional meets finished.

[philgood80]

Any word on UCA's Chance Tanner in the 400 qualifier?

[AT]

Any word on UCA's Chance Tanner in the 400 qualifier?

He didn't make nationals. He got past the first round, though.

[philgood80]

Thanks AT! I saw that he made the final qualification round by finishing 14th in the prelims but couldn't find an update on the latest race.   Great updates!!