Razorbacks set for USA, Jamaican championships
FAYETTEVILLE — With the collegiate season completed and behind them, six members of the Arkansas women’s track and field team and four members of the men’s team are set to compete this week in the 2018 USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in Dew Moines, Iowa.
Hosted by Drake University, the four-day event will see the top athletes from around the country vying for a USATF Championship. No Team USA spots are up for grabs with the next International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships slated to be held in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 28 to Oct. 6, 2019, With no spots available, athletes will not advance past nationals.
Current Razorbacks traveling to Iowa include Taliyah Brooks for the long Jump and 100-meter hurdles; Jada Baylark, 100-meter dash; Kiara Parker, 100-meter dash; Nikki Hiltz, 1500-meter run; Tori Hoggard, pole vault; and Lexi Jacobus, pole vault. They will be joined in competition by six #ProHogs.
The veteran Razorback group will be headlined by Olympic veterans Sandi Morris in the pole vault and Chrishuna Williams in the 800-meter run, as well as #ProHogs Jessica Kamilos, 3000-meter steeplechase; Alex Gochenour, heptathlon; Stephanie Brown, 1500-meter run; and Daina Harper, 400-meter dash.
Morris was a 2016 silver medalist at the Rio Olympic Games and heads into the pole vault competition as the top entry with
her 2018 best clearance of 16-2.75 from the IAAF World Indoor meet in March in Birmingham, Great Britain. She also carries an outdoor season-best into the meet from Drake Relays where she won her third-consecutive Drake Relays pole vault title with a meet-record setting clearance of 16-0. Morris became the first athlete in Drake Relays history to clear 16-feet in the women’s vault.
Also competing this weekend will be Janeek Brown, who will run at the Jamaican Trials in the 100-meter hurdles. She enters the meet with a season-best and personal best time of 12.80 seconds set at Hayward Field during the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles at the 2018 NCAA Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. Brown set the program record with her time and went on to earn All-American honors in the event, finishing fifth to wrap up her freshman campaign for the Razorbacks.
Current members of the men’s team traveling to Iowa include Kenzo Cotton in the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash; Obi Igbokwe , 200-meter dash and
400-meter dash; Derek Jacobus, decathlon; and Larry Donald, 110-meter hurdles.
The four current Hogs will be joined by six #ProHogs, including Tyson Gay in the
100-meter dash; Andrew Irwin, pole vault; Stanley Kebenei, steeplechase; Frankline Tonui, steeplechase; Jarrion Lawson,
100-meter dash and 200-meter dash; and Marqueze Washington, 100-meter dash,
200-meter dash and 400-meter dash. Also competing this weekend will be Kemar Mowatt, who will run at the Jamaican Trials in the 400-meter hurdles, and Clive Pullen, who will compete in the triple jump at the same meet.
Mowatt enters the meet with a season-best time of 48.83 seconds set at Hayward Field during the final of the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA men’s championships a few weeks ago in Eugene, Ore. Mowatt set the program record with his time of 48.49 during last year’s NCAA Championships and went on to finish fourth at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London, England following a silver medal performance at the Jamaican championships last year.
Pullen enters the meet boasting a season-best of 53-3.75 set during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games held at Carrara Stadium in Queensland, Australia.