AUBURN’S SPRINT RELAY launched the men’s track portion of the meet in the best possible way Wednesday, blasting a CR 37.75 in the prelims that set the tone for a thrilling first evening of action.
Ironically, an hour later, another Tiger — electrifying hurdler Ja’Kobe Tharp — would steal the thunder from his own teammates with his jaw-dropping WR 12.75.
But 48 hours later, as the 9 qualifying squads lined up Friday for the final, the question was, “What would they do for an encore?”
Unfortunately, for Auburn— the answer was, “Botch the final exchange.”
The recordsetters were hardly alone. Team favorite Arkansas lost important points while failing to complete the first pass in lane 7, while the carnage on the last handoff also involved both Houston and Oregon in 2 and 8.
Suddenly, fellow SEC powers LSU and Tennessee — 2nd and 3rd on the formchart behind Auburn — were left grinding for the title in lanes 4 and 5, with only three other schools finishing behind them. Vol Elijah Clark had a slight edge next to Tiger Joshua Caleb when he got the stick and with an unwavering effort, he increased it. Tennessee became the fourth school under 38 seconds when Clark crossed the line in 37.98, ahead of LSU’s 38.06.
Juniors Traunard Folston and Davonte Howell, senior T’Mars McCallum and frosh Clark had captured the Vols’ third 4×1 crown, but the first since an ’83 squad that included ’80 Olympic team member Willie Gault and ’84 Olympian Sam Graddy.
“I’m a freshman, so I’m new to all this, but that’s making history,” said Clark. “That’s an amazing thing to accomplish. I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
Of course, the Vols were just focused on themselves and not the chaos around them. Leadoff leg Folson, for example, didn’t learn until the mixed zone that the Hogs had muffed the exchange a few lanes over. “We’re trying to focus on what we do, stay in our lane, get the baton around.”
“We knew that we could do it. It was just a matter of putting it together, practice, and just trusting in each other,” said Clark.
That chemistry became an even stronger factor with McCallum (who was not in the mixed zone with Clark and Folson) having failed to advance in the 100 and the squad rallying around the motivation to get it done for him. “I talked to my dad before this and I’m like, ‘T’Mars has been a great role model to me,” said Clark, in just in his third year of sprinting since transitioning from being a distance runner.
“Him being a role model to me, it was just like, I want to do this for him. I want to bring this home for him. For someone [McCallum] who’d been running track a long time, I felt like that’s an important experience for him as well.”
The race certainly had an impact on the team battle as well. Tennessee (projected 8th) made the podium in 3rd as they stacked some other strong finishes; LSU ascended to 4th (projected 7th), while Auburn slipped to 6th (projected 3rd). Arkansas, of course, got the team title, but it was much closer than anticipated.
On Wednesday, Azeemi Fahmi, 100-champ-to-be Kayinsola Ajayi, Austin Kresley and Tyler Davis had scorched the track with their 37.75 to erase LSU’s 3-year-old 37.90 collegiate standard. They looked good on every leg, though Ajayi got a slow start before moving to the front. The final Kresley–Davis exchange was smooth, but Friday Kresley seemingly couldn’t find Davis’s hand in the right spot and it was over for Coach Burrell’s crew, which had looked on their way to an even faster time.
“Our coach said we hit the mark, do everything we’re supposed to do, we’re gonna run 37,” said Kresley Friday. “We’ve told each other the goal is to threepeat.” But by missing the former Friday, they didn’t get a chance for the latter.
MEN’S 4 x 100 RESULTS
FINAL (June 12)
1. Tennessee 37.98 (6 C) (Folson, Howell’, McCallum, Clark);
2. LSU 38.06 (Walker, Reid’, McKay’, Caleb’);
3. Ohio State 38.44 (Calhoun, Brown, John’, Brann);
4. North Carolina A&T 38.67 (Hewlett, Holmes, Booth-Mitchell, Benjamin);
5. Mississippi State 39.07 (Fakorede’, Moore, Scott, Hawkins);
… dnf—Arkansas (Stubbs, Williams, Hogans, Watkins), Auburn (Fahmi’, Ajayi’, Kresley, Davis), Houston (Mulholland, Aigboboh’, Reeves-Lile, Hinchliffe’), Oregon (Graves-Blanks, Ize-Iyamu, Valley, Barbarin).
SEMIS (June 10)
I–1. Arkansas 38.32; 2. LSU 38.40; 3. Arizona 38.79; 4. Ole Miss 38.86; 5. East Carolina 39.05; 6. South Florida 39.16; 7. Sam Houston 39.33; 8. Cal State Fullerton 40.77.
II–1. Auburn 37.75 CR (old CR 37.90 LSU ’23) (Azeem Fahmi’, Kayinsola Ajayi’, Austin Kresley, Tyler Davis);
2. Houston 38.34; 3. North Carolina A&T 38.53; 4. Oregon 38.54; 5. Mississippi State 38.73; 6. Texas 39.03; 7. Kentucky 39.26;… dnf—Long Beach State.
III–1. Tennessee 38.47; 2. Ohio State 38.64; 3. Texas Tech 38.89; 4. Clemson 39.17; 5. Harvard 39.35;… dnf—Iowa, Minnesota, USC.
