Shawn Price January 29, 2021
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas freshman Ruben Banks claimed his second consecutive victory in the weight throw on the first day of the Razorback Invitational while Oregon capped the Friday session with another collegiate record in the distance medley relay at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Saturday’s action starts at 10:15 a.m. with the continuation of the heptathlon, where Razorback Markus Ballengee is currently in second place, while running events begin at 12:30 p.m.
The Ducks crushed their previous record set here a year ago with a 9:19.42 from the foursome of Cole Hocker, Luis Peralta, Charlie Hunter, and Cooper Teare. Oregon set the previous record of 9:24.52 during last year’s Razorback Invitational. Iowa State (9:27.90) and Ole Miss (9:30.62) finished second and third.
Featured on Friday are the distance medley relay, long jump and the first day of the heptathlon. Saturday’s menu includes a very talented field in the 3,000m as well as the usual array of national caliber athletes across various events.
“Everybody brings something a little different each weekend,” said Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “When you look at the schools that come in this week, they bring a different flavor. The flavor this week is maybe not so quite the ballistic events as it is maybe the distances. Again, though, there will be some good sprinting and jumping going on.”
Arkansas hosts the Wooo Pig Classic on Friday, another team scored event that features a collection of top track and field talent from around the country. The Razorbacks play host to Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Southern California, and Texas inside the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Shawn Price January 19, 2021
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Surpassing 25 feet to win the long jump event by six inches garnered SEC Freshman of the Week honors for Razorback Johnathan Baker.
Baker won the event at the Arkansas Invitational with a mark of 25-0 ¾ (7.64) in his Razorback debut to defeat Oklahoma’s Rayvon Allen (24-6 ½). Baker currently ranks second on the world U20 list in 2021 while having the top mark by a freshman and is third best among collegians.
The winning leap for Baker came in round two and he followed with marks of 24-8 ¼ (7.52) and 24-5 ¾ (7.46) in rounds three and four. Those secondary marks also topped the field until Allen improved to 24-6 ½ in the final stanza.
Oklahoma finished as team runner-up with 104 points, followed by Arkansas State (95) and Central Arkansas (54).
In seeing the Razorbacks compete for the first time in over 10 months, Arkansas head coach Chris Buckman was satisfied with the performance.
“It was huge getting back into competition,” said Bucknam. “Even the week leading up to this was different. I was pleased with some of the performances we had.
“It was a very good meet for us. Anytime you win a meet that’s great. We’ve got a longways to go, but certainly we jumped into the deep end and everything is good.”
A spirited race among the Razorbacks occurred in the 1,000m as Amon Kemboi delivered a winning time of 2:23.49 with Kieran Taylor runner-up in 2:23.98, the fifth and sixth best times ever among marks in the Arkansas Invitational.