Georgia's Aaliyah Butler Wins 400, Splits 48.86 On 4x400 Relay; LSU's Rose Continues Mastery Of SEC 800 Finals

By David Woods for DyeStat

Bobby Goddin photos

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It might be presumptuous to include JaMeesia Ford in a sentence with Gabby Thomas. Ford is a 20-year-old, and Thomas, 28, is a five-time Olympic medalist and 200-meter Paris champion.

Except the South Carolina sophomore is built Ford tough. In a span of 3 ½ hours Saturday night, she won a sprint quadruple against, let’s face it, one of the strongest sprint fields assembled in the world.

At the SEC Championships, she anchored South Carolina to victory in the 4x100-meter relay. She won a 100 meters that went – wait for it – to the ten-thousandths of a second. She and LSU soph Tima Godbless were both timed in 11.055 seconds, so it went to the .0001s.

Ford set a meet record of 22.01 in the 200, breaking the record of 22.03 set last year by McKenzie Long of Mississippi. (Long went on to win a 100/200/4x100 triple at the NCAA Championships and finish sixth in the Paris Olympics 200.)

In the 200, Ford became No. 5 on the all-time collegiate list and No. 3 in the world this year – behind Julien Alfred (21.88) and Thomas (21.95). Those two were second and first, respectively, at Paris. Thomas won golds in 4x100 and 4x400 relays, an ambition Ford might pursue.

“I’m one of a kind. I can do the 1, 2 and the 4,” Ford said.

Her 49.56 third leg supplied an insurmountable lead to the Gamecocks, who won the 4x400 in 3:24.26. Georgia was second in 3:24.85, despite Aaliyah Butler’s 48.86 anchor.

Since finishing third in the NCAA indoor 200 after winning as a freshman, Ford is 10-0 in individual finals in 2025. That includes 100/200/400. Her NCAA outdoor schedule is indeterminate.

“I’m very shocked, definitely the 100,” she said. “I got out of my comfort zone by doing that race.”

In team standings, top-ranked Georgia won its first women’s championship since 2006 and third overall (the other was 1995). Georgia had 103 points to 81.5 for No. 4 Texas A&M.

No. 11 Florida was third with 79 and No. 3 Arkansas fourth with 72 (29 points from the 5K/10K). No. 6 South Carolina was fifth with 69 and defending champion LSU seventh with 55.

It would be fair to assert Ford and Butler, 21, are challenging their elders. Only collegiate 4x400 legs on record faster than Butler are 48.60 by Britton Wilson in 2022 and 48.85 by Athing Mu in 2021.

Butler was second in the 400 at last year’s Olympic Trials and won a gold medal from heats of the 4x400. She is the collegiate leader at 49.44, ranking fourth in the world. Before the wind died by late evening, she won the SEC by nearly a second in 50.36.

“The wind felt like I was in a hurricane,” Butler said. “I got up in my drive phase, and I felt like I wasn’t moving.”

Rosey Effiong, hurt in a collision before her Friday heat, finished ninth in 55.48 and did not run for Arkansas in the 4x400. Effiong was on the team setting a collegiate record of 3:17.96 last year and won a relay gold at March’s indoor worlds.

LSU’s Michaela Rose became 6-0 in SEC indoor/outdoor 800s with a time of 1:59.75, nearly two seconds faster than Arkansas freshman Sanu Jallow.

Alabama’s Doris Lemngole, after a meet record Friday in the steeplechase, won the 5,000 in 15:11.62. The Kenyan already has NCAA titles in her sophomore season from cross country and indoor 5,000. Arkansas soph Paityn Noe, the 10,000 winner, was second in 15:28.85.

Jamaican freshman Habiba Harris of Florida won the 100 hurdles in 12.75 after her biggest challenger, Texas’ Akala Garrett, had a false start DQ.

Garrett was 400 hurdles winner in 54.84. Arkansas’ Rachel Glenn did not start. Although Glenn is No. 6 on the all-time collegiate list at 53.48, she has never been higher than sixth at SECs.

Florida’s Alida van Daalen, a Dutch Olympian, repeated as discus champion with a meet record of 214 feet (65.24m). Previous record was 211-8 (64.52m) by Texas A&M’s Shelbi Vaughn in 2015.

Oklahoma’s Agur Dwol extended her collegiate lead to 46 feet (14.02m) in the triple jump, albeit wind-aided (+4.1). She was one centimeter ahead of Texas A&M’s Winny Bii, of Kenya, who had a wind-legal 45-11.75.

SEC men: Anthony’s sprint sweep leads Arkansas to 5th straight

This is the SEC. What shouldn’t a football player take center stage?

Jordan Anthony, a wide receiver enrolled at a third SEC school in four years, won a sprint double to send Arkansas toward a fifth straight men’s championship.

In a literal sense, the Razorbacks were knocked down and got back up.

They secured victory in the next-to-last event, the 5,000, in which Ben Shearer was among runners caught in an early pileup. He tripped and did a somersault before scrambling to rejoin all those overtaking him. He finished second to Mississippi’s Toby Gillen, and the 10 points he and Brian Masai scored gave the Razorbacks an insurmountable 10.5-point lead.

“I’ve just got a lot of great competitors across the board,” Arkansas coach Chris Bucknam said. “From the 100 to the 10,000 and everyone in between, we compete hard.”

The No. 9-ranked Razorbacks scored 98.5 points to 87 for No. 5 Georgia, which scored 53 in field events and decathlon. No. 12 Alabama was third with 85, featuring 35 in the 5K/10K.

No. 2 Texas A&M was fourth with 77, Mississippi fifth with 74 and No. 3 Tennessee sixth with 63.

Anthony won the 100 in 9.95, top wind-legal time in the NCAA this year and No. 4 in the world. Fifty-five minutes later, he took the 200 in 19.93, just off the 19.92 by Auburn’s Makanakaishe Charamba in Thursday’s trials. The 6-foot-5 Zimbabwean was second in the final in 20.08.

After trials, the 5-foot-10 Anthony said he told himself, “That’s going to be a big boy to beat.”

Anthony did so, climbing to No. 5 in the world.

He said it was “bittersweet” it happened at Kentucky, where he began college. He transferred to A&M and then Arkansas. Although some football coaches resist players reporting for track, that is no issue at Arkansas. A big-time recruit coming out of Tylertown, Miss., he had modest stats last fall – eight catches for 111 yards and one touchdown.

“Coaches in general, especially conditioning coaches, teach speed and dynamics,” Anthony said. “What’s track? Speed and dynamics.”

He said his future is “up in the air,” especially if he were to make the U.S. team for the World Championships in Tokyo, Dates are Sept. 13-21, coinciding with football season.

“I’m just in the moment right now,” he said.

Arkansas scored in 12 of 21 events. Besides Anthony and decathlete Marcus Weaver (7,940 points), the Razorbacks had their first 1,500 champion, Davis Helmerich, since 2013.

With no runner willing to take the pace in windy conditions, nine were within a second of each other at the bell lap. Reuben Reina, Brian Masai and Helmerich were running 1-2-3 by then, and Helmerich used a 52.07 last 400 to win in 3:52.01. A&M’s Cooper Cawthra, with a 51.77 lap, was second in 3:52.14. Masai was third and Reina, the SEC indoor mile champion, eighth.

“I’m a tactical racer’s nightmare because I love going into those races,” Helmerich said. “I can close better than anyone.”

Another strong closer was A&M’s Sam Whitmarsh, who repeated in the 800 with a time of 1:45.35. Last June’s NCAA runner-up had a couple of DNFs and a DQ this season, but he is again peaking perfectly.

He is an inspirational figure because he has endured two heart surgeries, a consequence of Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, a rare condition causing rapid heartbeats.

“I’ve grown so much not only in track and field, but in my faith, being able to step on the track like this,” Whitmarsh said. “It’s been an incredible journey.”

Wind affected the 400, in which Alabama’s Samuel Ogazi ran 45.04 to beat South Carolina freshman Josiah Wrice, 45.40. (They rank 1-2 on the under-20 world list at 44.98 and 44.99, respectively.) A&M’s Auhmad Robinson, the pre-meet NCAA leader at 44.61, was eighth in 46.65.

Elsewhere, marks that rank No. 1 or 2 in the NCAA abounded:

>> In the 110 hurdles, Texas’ Kendrick Smallwood (13.13), Auburn’s Ja’Kobe Tharp (13.15) and A&M’s Ja’Qualon Scott (13.18) climbed to Nos. 4, 5 and 8 on the all-time collegiate list. Tharp is the NCAA indoor champion, and last year he was second at NCAAs and first at U20 worlds.  “Two or three weeks, I’ll be fine,” he said.

>> Tennessee’s Saad Hinti, of Morocco, won the 400 hurdles in 48.44 for No. 2 in the NCAA. Florida freshman Vance Nilsson, the U20 world champion, did not start.

>> Oklahoma’s Ralford Mullings, an Olympic finalist from Jamaica, was discus champion with a distance of 218-1 (66.48m). That was just off his PB of 226-10 (69.13m). He trails only Lithuanian world record-holder Mykolas Alekna of California.

>> Tennessee’s time of 38.20 in the 4x100 relay is a collegiate leader.

>> High jumpers Riyon Rankin of Georgia (7-6/2.29m) and Arvesta Troupe of Mississippi (7-5/2.26m) are 1-2 in the NCAA. Rankin made 7-6 on a third attempt to avoid a jump-off. He was a prep basketball player who led his team to a Sweet 16 spot in Georgia’s Class 6A tournament. It was a “big decision” to abandon hoops, he said. “But you know, the way things are going, it was pretty good decision.”

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.