Razorbacks become first group since Oregon in 2016 to capture both championships, concluding final indoor meet for women’s coach Harter in memorable fashion and adding to men’s legacy with record 21st crown, giving program 49 titles overall, including cross country and outdoor track and field

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – One Arkansas group was led by an exceptional trio of Jamaican jumpers and the best all-around competitor in Puerto Rican track and field history.

Another Razorbacks’ lineup was highlighted by the fastest American female athlete ever to run two laps on a 200-meter banked track and the best collection of women’s quarter-milers ever showcased on a collegiate roster, in addition to the Jamaican and NCAA record holder in the 60-meter hurdles.

One legendary Arkansas coach was able to celebrate a fitting conclusion to the final indoor meet of his career with a fourth women’s indoor team title.

Another Razorbacks’ mentor added to the greatest men’s championship legacy in collegiate history.

And both Arkansas teams capped their respective schedules Saturday at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships by winning the 4x400-meter relays, as they celebrated their victories with nearly identical scores at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

For the first time in school history, the Razorbacks swept the indoor team titles in the same year, with the men capturing their record 21st championship and the women winning their fourth crown, increasing Arkansas’ total to 49 overall national titles, including cross country and outdoor track and field.

INTERVIEWS | PHOTOS by Phil Ponder

The women’s team sent coach Lance Harter out in style in his final indoor meet ahead of his retirement at the end of the school year, as Arkansas prevailed with 64 points, ahead of Texas with 60 points, Florida at 45 points and Stanford finishing fourth with 33 points.

The Razorbacks celebrated their first men’s team championship since 2013 under coach Chris Bucknam with 63 points, followed by Georgia with 40 points, Florida at 34 points and Washington placing fourth with 31 points.

Arkansas not only prevailed against Texas in a head-to-head showdown in the women’s 4x400 relay with the title on the line, but Rosey Effiong, Amber Anning, Joanne Reid and Britton Wilson produced the fastest all-time indoor performance in the world by clocking 3 minutes, 21.75 seconds, eclipsing the 2006 standard of 3:23.37 by Russia.

Arkansas became the first women’s 4x400 to capture back-to-back titles since USC in 2017-18.

Wilson, who captured the 400 title in 49.48 to set American and collegiate records with the No. 2 all-time global indoor effort, anchored the Razorbacks in 49.19 for the fastest split in world indoor history.

Effiong finished fourth in 50.54 and Anning secured sixth in 51.22 in the 400 final, contributing 18 points for the Razorbacks.

Lauren Gregory, who was in a walking boot during the championship celebration after placing second in the mile in 4:34.24 with an injured right foot, also anchored the Razorbacks’ distance medley relay to a runner-up finish with a 4:31.36 split on the final 1,600 meters, as she and Mary Ellen Eudaly, Paris Peoples and Lainey Quandt clocked 10:56.61 to finish right behind Stanford at 10:56.34.

Amanda Fassold got the momentum rolling Friday for Arkansas by winning the pole vault title with a 14-7.25 (4.45m) clearance.

Ackera Nugent followed her collegiate and Jamaican record 7.72 performance in the 60-meter hurdles semifinals by winning her second career title Saturday in 7.73, joining the championship she won representing Baylor in 2021.

Although the women’s championship pursuit came down to the final race, the men’s team had the title wrapped up well before the 4x400, as Connor Washington, James Benson II, Ayden Owens-Delerme and Christopher Bailey punctuated the Razorbacks’ dominant effort by winning the relay for the first time since 2013 with a 3:02.09 performance. Bailey, who finished fifth in the 400 final in 45.32, anchored for Arkansas with a remarkable 44.14 split.

Owens-Delerme contributed a runner-up performance in the heptathlon, as he and Georgia’s Kyle Garland both surpassed the previous collegiate record. Garland produced the No. 2 score in world indoor history with 6,639 points and Owens-Delerme elevated to the No. 3 all-time global indoor competitor with 6,518 points for the No. 5 total, including a collegiate heptathlon record 7.73 in the 60-meter hurdles.

Yariel Soto Torrado, also representing Puerto Rico like Owens-Delerme, secured sixth in the heptathlon in a lifetime-best 6,047 points, as seven competitors achieved 6,000-point efforts.

Arkansas swept the horizontal jumps, with freshman and World Under-20 gold medalist Jaydon Hibbert eclipsing the collegiate indoor triple jump record with his opening-round effort of 57-6.50 (17.54m).

Hibbert also produced the World Under-20 indoor record and Jamaican all-time indoor mark, with long jump champion Carey McLeod adding a sixth-place triple jump finish at 53-7.75 (16.35m).

McLeod won the long jump title in dramatic fashion by rallying in the final round with a 27-6.75 (8.40m) performance to edge Mississippi State’s Cameron Crump at 27-6.50 (8.39m) in a competition that produced seven 8-meter performers, including Wayne Pinnock placing fourth at 27-4 (8.33m) for the Razorbacks.

It marked the first time since 2016 that Arkansas won both long jump and triple jump championships in the same year, as Jarrion Lawson and Clive Pullen achieved the feat for the Razorbacks.

Jordan West finished fifth in the shot put final with a personal-best 67-2 (20.47m) effort and Patrick Kiprop contributed a sixth-place performance in the 5,000-meter final in 13:45.16.

Ben Shearer, Leroy Russell III, Elias Schreml and Benson achieved a seventh-place finish in the distance medley relay in 9:34.82.

Lance Lang earned eighth in the 200 in 20.75 to cap the scoring for Arkansas, which became the first school to sweep both men’s and women’s indoor championships in the same year since Oregon in 2016.