Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Razorbacks’ Boit shows off multiple moves in 5,000 race
FAYETTEVILLE — Gilbert Boit made his first big move a little earlier than everybody expected, but it was his last move that earned him an SEC championship.
The Arkansas junior made his last push near the end of the men’s 5,000 meters, and it was enough to slip past Alabama’s Gilbert Kigen at the finish line during the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships in the Randal Tyson Track Center. Boit finished the race in 14 minutes, 9.84 seconds, just .03 seconds faster than Kigen.
Boit made his first move just before the bell lap began, and he took the lead with 200 meters to go. Kigen moved back in front on the backstretch, but Boit responded with his last burst of speed on the final stretch.
“I had been planning this with my coaches,” Boit said. “Everybody is waiting on the bell, so I said I would do it about 50 meters before the bell and go out.
“I knew he was coming because I watched him on the screen. When he passed me, I was waiting for him to go, and I was relaxing. Then I kicked it in again at the last.”
Boit’s win, coupled with a second-place finish in the distance medley relay, accounted for 18 of Arkansas’ 26 points as the Razorbacks are in third place after Friday’s competition. Alabama led LSU by a 38-36 margin with six of 17 events completed, while Arkansas enjoys a two-point lead over Florida.
Earlier in the meet, Gabe Moore used his best event — the high jump — to give himself the first-day lead in the heptathlon. Moore accumulated 3,329 points through Friday’s four events, building a 33-point cushion on Georgia sophomore Johannes Erm.
Moore trailed Erm by 22 points before the high jump took place, but Moore cleared 6 feet, 7 inches to win the event and added 813 points to his total. Erm recorded 758 points as he cleared 6-4¾ but fell into second place while
Texas A&M’s Nathan Hite was third at 3,149, 34 points ahead of Arkansas’ Derek Jacobus.
“I feel good,” Moore said. “My body isn’t firing as well I would have liked to. The 60 wasn’t great, and the long jump was average. I had a good shotput, then I ended day one with an event win. I was really close to my PR in the high jump, and that was huge.
“We have some great competitors in this field, so I’ll have to come out and have a great day two and wrap it up.”
LSU freshman pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis wasn’t satisfied when he broke the meet record of 18-8½ set by Tennessee’s Lawrence Johnson in 1994. He then had the bar set at 19-5 and cleared that height to set the collegiate record, breaking the previous mark of 19-4¾ set by Akron’s Shawn Barber in 2015.
“Going into the competition, I wanted to win,” Duplantis said. “I wanted to get going and get the 10 points for LSU. Taking some shots at the collegiate record was a bonus. To make it was the best possible scenario.”
Florida’s Grant Holloway set the meet record in the 60 hurdles prelims when he was clocked at 7.48 seconds, breaking the previous mark of 7.49 set by Arkansas’ Omar McLeod in 2015. Holloway already owned the collegiate record with a 7.42 mark he set last year.