COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, May 13-15 — With jaw-dropping performances on both the track and the field, LSU grabbed the lion’s share of the individual headlines from the SEC men’s contest, but it was Arkansas’s nickel and diming for three days straight that gave the Razorbacks their 20th title (and their 16th triple crown).
Said Arkansas head Chris Bucknam, “We said coming into this championship it’s a 3-day meet and not a 1-day meet. There’s a big difference. We usually gain steam and our momentum as we go through each day. We kept plugging along and came out with a big win.”
The Razorbacks tallied 129 points to finish ahead of Alabama (109) and LSU (108), despite taking the win on only one individual event, the 5000, where Amon Kemboi finished his 13:52.98 with a 57.11 final lap.
Yet it was LSU’s Tigers who generated the biggest “Wow” moments of the meet, none more so than junior sprinter Terrance Laird, who set the stage with prelim wins of 20.13 and 10.17 on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, his mission started with the 4×1 final at 5:05. He brought the Tigers from 3rd to a 38.87 win over Matthew Boling-anchored Georgia (39.02). Some 80 minutes later came the century final. With the wind a little too favorable at 3.2, Boling produced a stunning 9.80 ahead of Boling’s 9.97; it was the No. 5 collegiate performance ever under any conditions.
An hour later, winds had dropped for the 200 final (1.7). Laird cruised a meet record 19.82, just 0.01 off his world-leading 19.81 from March’s Texas Relays, with Florida frosh Joseph Fahnbulleh edging Boling for 2nd, 20.05–20.06, with Kentucky’s Lance Lang at 20.08. All 3 set PRs.
Said Lang, “After I came off the curve, I couldn’t feel nobody. I actually stumbled at 160 —I couldn’t control my speed.”
Another clutch LSU performance came in the 400, where soph Noah Williams produced a 44.37 to beat back PRs by A&M’s Bryce Deadmon (44.50) and Georgia’s Elija Godwin (44.61).
The biggest field performance came from LSU’s JuVaughn Harrison, who soared over an outdoor world-leading 7-8¾ (2.36) cleanly to move to No. =8 among Americans all-time while tying for No. 2 in collegiate history. Harrison had zero misses, clearing all 7 heights on his first attempts. Pushing him much of the way was Tennessee senior Darryl Sullivan, who tied his best with a PR 7-7¾ (2.33).
Once the high jump was settled, Harrison moved over to the long jump less than an hour later. He went big early with a 27-¼ (8.24) first attempt and perhaps he thought he had it won. He fouled in round 3, then passed the next two attempts. However Tennessee’s Carey McLeod, who had been in 4th, surprised with 27-4½ (8.34) on his last jump. Forced to fire up again, Harrison fouled and had to settle for 2nd.
Tennessee frosh Keaton Daniel added more than 7 inches to his best to win the vault with an 18-8¼ (5.70) clearance.
One of the deepest events turned out to be the high hurdles, where Alabama’s Robert Dunning rode an illegal 2.7 breeze to a 13.15w victory, getting out ahead of favored Damion Thomas at the start and staying there. All conditions his time is No. 6 all-time among collegians. “I worked on my start all week,” he explained.
Behind him, the field closed fast: LSU’s Thomas (13.25) and Eric Edwards (13.27), Arkansas’s Philip Lemonious (13.32) and Tre’Bien Gilbert (13.48) took the next 4 spots.
The long hurdles featured another fine battle, as Texas A&M’s Moitalel Mpoke used better technique to edge LSU frosh Sean Burrell, who lost ground at each barrier. The South African took the lead before hurdle 10 and held off Burrell’s late charge to win in a collegiate-leading 48.89, just ahead of Burrell’s PR 48.92. That made it 5 PRs in 5 finals for Burrell this year, who moved to No. 9 on the all-time U.S. Junior list.
Alabama scored big in the distances, with Vincent Kiprop taking the steeple (8:47.18) and 10,000 (28:55.56). Frosh Eliud Kipsang won the 1500 in 3:37.99 with a solid 55.17 finish but didn’t have enough kick left to hold off A&M frosh Brandon Miller 80 minutes later in the two-lapper, as Miller moved to No. 5 among American Juniors with his negative-split 1:45.95, Kipsang finishing in 1:47.16.
The best of the throws went to Mississippi State frosh DJ Jonsson, who set a collegiate leader in the javelin at 258-1 (78.66). Kentucky senior Charles Lendorf needed all of his 195-6 (59.58) in the discus to edge Missouri frosh Mitchell Weber by 2 inches. In the shot, Alabama’s Isaac Odugbesan won by more than a foot with his PR 66-4¼ (20.22). Florida’s Thomas Mardal dominated the hammer, winning with 245-4 (74.78) as all of his four fair tosses were better than the runner-up mark.
Georgia frosh Kyle Garland crushed the decathlon field by more than 500 points, his 8196 moving to the top of the yearly U.S. collegians list as he scored 5 PRs on the way.
SEC MEN’S RESULTS
(5/13—800h, 10K, HT, JT; 5/14—St, HJ, LJ, SP)
Teams: 1. Arkansas 129; 2. Alabama 109; 3. LSU 108; 4. Florida 74; 5. Kentucky 70; 6. tie, Tennessee & Texas A&M 67; 8. Georgia 48; 9. Mississippi 43; 10. Auburn 30; 11. Mississippi State 29; 12. South Carolina 23; 13. Missouri 22.
100(3.2): 1. *Terrance Laird (LSU) 9.80w (a-c: WL, AL, CL) (a-c: =10, x A; 5, 5 C; 2, 2 AmC);
2. ***Matthew Boling (Ga) 9.97w; 3. *Dedrick Vanover (Fl) 10.03w; 4. ***Lance Lang (Ky) 10.07w; 5. ***Joe Fahnbulleh (Fl) 10.11w; 6. *Roman Turner (Ar) 10.12w; 7. *Emmanuel Yeboah’ (TxAM-Gha) 10.17w; 8. ***Arian Smith (Ga) 10.18w; 9. ***Ryan Martin (TxAM) 10.23w.
200(1.7): 1. Laird 19.82 (x, 5 C; x, 3 AmC);
2. Fahnbulleh 20.05 PR; 3. Boling 20.06 PR; 4. Lang 20.08 PR; 5. Vanover 20.43 PR; 6. ***Lance Broome (TxAM) 20.66 PR; 7. *Jalen Brown (Ar) 20.72 PR; 8. *Elijah Dryer (Ms) 20.87 PR.
400: 1. **Noah Williams (LSU) 44.37; 2. Bryce Deadmon (TxAM) 44.50 PR; 3. **Elija Godwin (Ga) 44.61 PR; 4. *Dwight St. Hillaire’ (Ky-Tri) 45.12; 5. *Champion Allison (Al) 45.43 PR; 6. Tyler Terry (LSU) 45.54; 7. **Christopher Bailey (Tn) 46.03; 8. ***Emmanuel Bynum (Tn) 46.53; 9.**James Milholen (Ar) 46.80.
800: 1. ***Brandon Miller (TxAM) 1:45.95 PR (5, 8 AJ);
2. ***Eliud Kipsang’ (Al-Ken) 1:47.16; 3. *Christopher Conrad (Mo) 1:47.60; 4. *Waleed Suliman (Ms) 1:48.13; 5. Carlton Orange (TxAM) 1:48.45; 6. Eric Brown (Aub) 1:48.83; 7. **Navasky Anderson (MsSt) 1:49.39; 8. Devin Dixon (TxAM) 1:49.91.
Heats: II–1. Miller 1:46.06 PR (5, 8 AJ).
1500: 1. Kipsang’ 3:37.99; 2. Suliman 3:38.86; 3. *Amon Kemboi’ (Ar-Ken) 3:40.41; 4. **Mario Garcia Romo’ (Ms-Spa) 3:40.57; 5. *Cade Bethmann (Ms) 3:42.61; 6. Michael Coccia’ (Ms-Can) 3:43.19 PR; 7. *Martin Prodanov’ (Mo-Bul) 3:43.36 PR; 8. ***William Sinclair’ (Mo-NZ) 3:43.90.
St: 1. Vincent Kiprop’ (Al-Ken) 8:47.18 PR; 2. **Andrew Kibet’ (Ar-Ken) 8:50.49 PR; 3. *Alex Crigger (Tn) 8:51.77; 4. *Emmanuel Cheboson’ (Ar-Ken) 8:55.11; 5. *Carter Persyn (Ar) 8:55.92; 6. **Trevor Foley (Fl) 9:00.98; 7. *Zephyr Seagraves (TxAM) 9:01.37; 8. Brennan Fields (Ky) 9:02.02.
5000: 1. *Amon Kemboi’ (Ar-Ken) 13:52.98; 2. *Emmanuel Cheboson’ (Ar-Ken) 13:59.28; 3. ***Cole Bullock (Ms) 14:01.48; 4. Gilbert Boit’ (Ar-Ken) 14:05.27; 5. Thomas George’ (Mo-GB) 14:06.43; 6. *Matt Young (Ar) 14:12.29; 7. **Karl Thiessen (Tn) 14:12.29; 8. *Ben Savino (Ms) 14:18.67.
10,000: 1. Kiprop’ 28:55.56; 2. Boit’ 29:10.98; 3. *Luke Meade (Ar) 29:22.40 PR; 4. Young 29:31.97; 5. Robinson Snider (Ms) 29:34.61 PR; 6. **Karl Thiessen (Tn) 29:50.66.
110H(2.7): 1. Robert Dunning (Al) 13.15w (a-c CL) (a-c: 6, x C; 4, x AmC);
2. *Damion Thomas’ (LSU-Jam) 13.25w; 3. **Eric Edwards (LSU) 13.27w; 4. ***Phillip Lemonious’ (Ar-Jam) 13.32w; 5. **Tre’Bien Gilbert (Ar) 13.48w; 6. Carl Elliott (Ar) 13.52w; 7. **Tai Brown (Ky) 13.57w; 8. Arthur Price (LSU) 13.87w.
400H: 1. *Moitalel Mpoke’ (TxAM-SA) 48.89 PR (CL);
2. ***Sean Burrell (LSU) 48.92 PR (AmCL) (9, x AJ) (5 finals, 5 PRs this year);
3. Malik Metivier’ (Aub-Can) 49.58 PR; 4. Dunning 49.86; 5. *Kenroy Williams’ (Ky-Jam) 50.86; 6. Denzel Villaman’ (Fl-DR) 51.20; 7. Nick Hilson (Ar) 51.69; 8. DeWitt Thomas (TxAM) 52.15.
4 x 100: 1. LSU 38.87 (Peebles, Williams, Camel, Laird); 2. Georgia 39.02 (Smith, Godwin, Dunkley, Boling); 3. Texas A&M 39.08 (Yeboah, Achane, Broome, Martin); 4. Kentucky 39.29; 5. Florida 39.42; 6. Mississippi State 39.88; 7. Arkansas 40.03.
4 x 400: 1. Kentucky 3:01.71 (Williams, Lang, St. Hillaire’ 45.14, Lightner 45.17); 2. Texas A&M 3:01.73 (Mpoke’, Dixon, Etiwe’, Deadmon 43.82); 3. Arkansas 3:04.96 (Farr, Milholen, Hilson 46.43, Schwartz 45.44); 4. Tennessee 3:05.78 (Cooper, Bynum, Griffith, Bailey 44.81); 5. Florida 3:06.48; 6. South Carolina 3:08.87; 7. Alabama 3:11.43; 8. Mississippi State 3:11.83.
Jumping Events
HJ: 1. *JuVaughn Harrison (LSU) 7-8¾ (2.36) PR (AL, CL; out WL) (x, =8 A; =2, =2 C) (7-1½, 7-3, 7-4¼, 7-5¼, 7-6½ =PR, 7-7¾ PR [=10, x C; =8, x AmC], 7-8¾) (2.17, 2.21, 2.24, 2.27, 2.30, 2.33, 2.36);
2. Darryl Sullivan (Tn) 7-7¾ (2.33) =PR (=10, x C; =8, x AmC) (6-11½, 7-1½, 7-3, 7-4¼, 7-5¼ [3], 7-6½, 7-7¾ [3], 7-8¾ [xxx]) (2.12, 2.17, 2.21, 2.24, 2.27 [3], 2.30, 2.33 [3], 2.36 [xxx]);
3. Clayton Brown’ (Fl-Jam) 7-4¼ (2.24); 4. *Allen Gordon (Ms) 7-1½ (2.17); 5. *Chris Edwards (Al) 7-1½ PR.
PV: 1. ***Keaton Daniel (Ky) 18-8¼ (5.70) PR; 2. *Ryan Lipe (Al) 18-2½ (5.55); 3. **Etamar Bhastekar’ (Ar-Isr) 17-6½ (5.35); 4. **James Courson (Aub) 17-2¾ (5.25); 5. tie, ***Dalton Shepler (Ky), **Joseph Jardine (Ky), ***Dillon McCarthy (SC), ***Zach Davis (TxAM) & ***Michael Schmuhl (TxAM) 16-8¾ (5.10).
LJ: 1. *Carey McLeod’ (Tn-Jam) 27-4½ (8.34) PR (25-8¾, 26-1, 18-10½, 25-2, 25-10, 27-4½) (7.84, 7.95, 5.75, 7.67, 7.87, 8.34); 2. Harrison 27-½ (8.24) (27-½, 26-11¾, f, p, p, f) (8.24, 8.22, f, p, p, f); 3. Laquan Nairn’ (Ar-Bah) 26-4½ (8.04) PR; 4. **Cameron Crump (MsSt) 26-¼ (7.93) PR; 5. ***Caleb Foster (Fl) 25-3¼ (7.70) PR; 6. ***Anthony Riley (Tn) 25-1¾ (7.66) PR; 7. ***John Baker (Ar) 24-11¼ (7.60); 8. **Trey Causey (Ky) 24-9¾ (7.56).
TJ: 1. Jah-Nhai Perinchief’ (Tn-Ber) 55-5w (16.89) (54-9¼/16.69); 2. *Christian Edwards (Al) 54-2w (16.51) (51-8¼/15.75); 3. Nairn’ 53-9¾w (16.40); 4. *Jonathan Miller’ (Fl-Bar) 53-9w (16.38); 5. ***Sean Dixon-Bodie (LSU) 53-7¾w (16.35); 6. Brown’ 53-5 (16.28); 7. Keshun McGee (Al) 53-4¼ (16.26); 8. **Georgi Nachev’ (Mo-Bul) 53-0w (16.15); 9. ***John Baker (Ar) 52-5¼w (15.98); 10. McLeod’ 51-10w (15.80); 11. *Allen Gordon (Ms) 51-6½w (15.71).
Throwing Events
SP: 1. *Isaac Odugbesan’ (Al-Ngr) 66-4¼ (20.22) PR; 2. Eric Favors’ (SC-Ire) 65-1½ (19.85) PR; 3. Connor Bandel (Fl) 64-4 (19.61) PR; 4. **Jordan West (Tn) 64-2¼ (19.56); 5. Jon Tharaldsen (Ga) 61-10¼ (18.85); 6. *Santiago Basso’ (Al-Chl) 61-2 (18.64); 7. **Josh Sobota (Ky) 60-10¾ (18.56).
DT: 1. Charles Lenford (Ky) 195-6 (59.58); 2. ***Mitchell Weber (Mo) 195-4 (59.54); 3. Sobota 188-9 (57.55); 4. Malik Paul (SC) 185-1 (56.41); 5. West 183-6 (55.94); 6. Edward Shelikoff (Fl) 181-1 (55.20); 7. ***Chancellor Crawford (Tn) 179-5 (54.69); 8. Basso’ 177-8 (54.15).
HT: 1. Thomas Mardal’ (Fl-Nor) 245-4 (74.78); 2. *Jake Norris’ (LSU-GB) 229-1 (69.84); 3. Kieran McKeag (Al) 226-9 (69.12) PR; 4. Jon Nerdal’ (LSU-Nor) 226-3 (68.96); 5. **Bobby Colantonio (Al) 224-5 (68.41); 6. *Georgios Korakidis’ (Tn-Gre) 222-4 (67.78); 7. **Alencar Pereira’ (Ga-Bra) 219-4 (66.85); 8. ***Kyle Brown (Aub) 218-6 (66.61); 9. ***Ruben Banks’ (Ar-GB) 213-11 (65.20); 10. Lenford 211-7 (64.50); 11. *Joseph Benedetto (Ms) 209-3 (63.79).
JT: 1. ***DJ Jonsson’ (MsSt-Ice) 258-1 (78.66) PR (CL) (252-4, 250-9, 256-11, 253-11, 258-1, 234-9) (76.91, 76.44, 78.31, 77.41, 78.66, 71.56);
2. Sindri Gudmundsson’ (MsSt-Ice) 254-0; 3. Nils Fischer’ (Aub-Ger) 234-11 (71.60); 4. ***Tzuriel Pedigo (LSU) 232-7 (70.89); 5. ***Sam Hankins (TxAM) 220-6 (67.21); 6. **Karel Tilga’ (Ga-Est) 217-1 (66.16); 7. Andre Girouard (LSU) 214-7 (65.42); 8. Jacob Stanko (Fl) 210-6 (64.16).
Dec(5/13-14): 1. ***Kyle Garland (Ga) 8196 PR (AmCL) (10.89, 24-10½/7.58, 49-1¾/14.98, 7-1/2.16, 50.40 [4377],14.37, 145-7/44.37, 15-5/4.70, 181-7/55.35, 4:44.74 [3819]);
2. *Alex Spyridonidis’ (Aub-Gre) 7618 PR; 3. **Daniel Spejcher (Ar) 7479; 4. Tyler Brendel (Ar) 7471 PR; 5. *Jacob Spotswood (Al) 7172.