OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI, May 12-14—Florida came out on top of the women’s team race at a hot SEC Championships, but it was Kentucky that stole the headlines in the final race, rocking a Collegiate Record 3:21.93 in the 4×4 to break the 3:22.34 mark that Texas A&M set a year ago.
Leadoff Karimah Davis put the Wildcats in front from the start. Dajour Miles on second leg was passed near the end, handing off in 3rd. By the time Abby Steiner got the stick, she was 10m-plus behind. “I was going to run my heart out for them,” said Steiner, who delivered a 48.78 along with the lead.
Anchor Alexis Holmes worked hard to stay in front, knowing she had to fend off A&M’s Charokee Young and Arkansas’s Britton Wilson. That she did, in 49.60, as Young’s 48.90 fell just short, and Wilson’s 48.60, the fastest collegiate split ever, earning only 3rd. “The biggest thing for me was just to take it out hard,” said Holmes.
The Kentucky foursome, all Americans, nailed the World and U.S. lead. At 3:22.01, Texas A&M also dipped under the old CR, and Arkansas’s 3:22.55 made it the No. 3 school ever.
Earlier, Steiner had come out on the losing end in her sprint matchups with LSU’s Favour Ofili. In the 100 the fast-starting Ofili blistered 10.93 to tie her best, this time into a 0.7 headwind. Steiner ran 2nd in 11.02. In the 200 an hour later, Steiner’s late charge came close, but Ofili held on for the win, 22.04–22.07.
“Everything that I have, everything I’ve done here, it’s all by the grace of God,” said Ofili. “Competing with Abby, we know we are going to run fast times together. I’m just happy to be healthy and I give God all the glory.”
It was Wilson’s heroics that led the runner-up Razorbacks. First, she defeated list leader Young in the 400, 50.05–50.45, making herself the No. 7 collegian ever.
With an hour’s rest, she ran behind early leader Anna Hall in the 400H, then roared past her on the stretch to win in a world-leading 53.75 to become the No. 6 collegian ever; Hall 2nd at 55.36. “I just really dug deep; I knew I had it in me,” she said. And she had less than 90 minutes rest before running the fastest relay leg in NCAA history.
“I told her we would take one event at a time,” said Arkansas assistant Chris Johnson. “Let’s get through one thing at a time and have a singular focus rather than a triple focus on the 400, 400H and the relay,” I didn’t realize she was going to run that fast. “She was really efficient in the way she set the race up in the 400. She was a little fatigued going into the 400H, but she recovered really well. With the relay stick in her hand, that’s the person you want to have in a clutch situation. She just fell a little short, but that’s track & field.”
In the 100 hurdles final NCAA Indoor champ Grace Stark was battling for the lead but fell hard at hurdle 6, leaving the race to LSU’s Alia Armstrong, who rode a barely-illegal 2.1 breeze to a 12.46, tying the No. 9 fastest all-conditions performance ever by a collegian. A&M’s Kaylah Robinson ran 2nd in 12.60.
Armstrong and Ofili provided the first two legs for the Tiger 4×1, which edged Kentucky 42.59–42.63. On leg 2, Ofili was matched with Kentucky’s Steiner and was able to hand off before her.
The victorious Gators cashed in on a steady string of points, with only one win coming on the track, Imogen Barrett in the 800 (2:01.42) after finishing 5th in the 1500 some 80 minutes earlier.
On the field it was a different story, with Jasmine Moore jumping 22-1 (6.73) to leading a 1-3-5 finish in the long jump, and the next day spanning a windy 47-5¼ (14.46) in the triple, with teammate Natricia Hooper landing in 2nd (45-1/13.74). Altogether, Gator assistant Nik Petersen’s horizontal jumpers scored 38 points.
Factor in another win from Sterling Lester with a 5749 heptathlon, and going into the final relay, the Gators just had to stay close to Arkansas. A 5th-place finish accomplished that, with Talitha Diggs anchoring in 49.84. Even without Stark scoring, Mike Holloway’s crew managed to stay just ahead of the Razorbacks in the fight for the team trophy, 107–103, with LSU in 3rd at 96.5.
Said Holloway, “We faced a lot of adversity today. They just kept fighting. They just never gave up.”
SEC WOMEN’S RESULTS
(5/12—10K, HT, JT; 5/13—St, HJ, LJ, SP)
Teams: 1. Florida 107; 2. Arkansas 103; 3. LSU 96½; 4. Kentucky 85; 5. Texas A&M 74; 6. Mississippi 72; 7. Auburn 57; 8. Alabama 48; 9. Tennessee 34; 10. Georgia 33½; 11. South Carolina 32; 12. tie, Missouri & Vanderbilt 27; 14. Mississippi State 22.
100(-0.7): 1. **Favour Ofili’ (LSU-Ngr) 10.93 =PR (8, =11 C);
2. *Abby Steiner (Ky) 11.02; 3. Jada Baylark (Ar) 11.24; 4. **Joella Lloyd’ (Tn-Ant) 11.31; 5. **Tionna Brown (LSU) 11.45.
200(0.2): 1. Ofili’ 22.04 (x, =3 C); 2. *Steiner 22.07 (x, 6 C);
3. **Talitha Diggs (Fl) 22.64; 4. **Laila Owens (TxAM) 23.07; 5. **Joella Lloyd’ (Tn-Ant) 23.20.
400: 1. **Britton Wilson (Ar) 50.05 (AmCL) (7, 11 C);
2. **Charokee Young’ (TxAM-Jam) 50.45; 3. *Alexis Holmes (Ky) 50.74; 4. **Talitha Diggs (Fl) 51.24; 5. Makenzie Dunmore (SC) 51.70.
800: 1. *Imogen Barrett’ (Fl-Aus) 2:01.42; 2. ***Michaela Rose (LSU) 2:02.49; 3. *Gabrielle Wilkinson (Fl) 2:02.73; 4. *Katy-Ann McDonald’ (LSU-GB) 2:03.09; 5. ***Jenna Schwinghamer (Ky) 2:03.18.
1500: 1. **Sintayehu Vissa’ (Ms-Ita) 4:08.72; 2. *Lauren Gregory (Ar) 4:09.73; 3. McDonald’ 4:12.30; 4. Grace Jensen (Vand) 4:13.82; 5. Barrett’ 4:14.79;.
St: 1. Joyce Kimeli’ (Aub-Ken) 9:49.13; 2. *Perri Bockrath (Ky) 9:52.48; 3. Logan Jolly (Ar) 9:57.11; 4. Krissy Gear (Ar) 10:03.34; 5. *Katie Thronson (Tn) 10:04.15.
5000: 1. *Mercy Chelangat’ (Al-Ken) 15:22.99; 2. ***Parker Valby (Fl) 15:32.41; 3. Gregory 15:39.04; 4. **Isabel Van Camp (Ar) 15:51.71; 5. **Sintayehu Vissa’ (Ms-Ita) 15:56.86.
10,000: 1. Chelangat’ 33:15.66; 2. **Skylar Boogerd (Ms) 34:11.87; 3. Van Camp 34:18.83; 4. *Sydney Seymour (Tn) 34:39.37; 5. ***Sydney Thorvaldson (Ar) 34:51.06.
100H(2.1): 1. **Alia Armstrong (LSU) 12.46w (a-c: x, =9 C);
2. Kaylah Robinson (TxAM) 12.60w; 3. *Masai Russell (Ky) 12.78w; 4. *Yoveinny Mota’ (Ar-Ven) 13.06w; 5. Destinee Rocker (SC) 13.15w.
400H: 1. **Britton Wilson (Ar) 53.75 (WL, AL, CL) (6, 8 C);
2. **Anna Hall (Fl) 55.36; 3. Russell 55.44; 4. Wise 55.99; 5. **Vanessa Watson (Fl) 56.84; 6. **Rachel Glenn (SC) 57.09.
Heats: II–1. Wilson 54.23 (CL) (8, x C).
4 x 100: 1. LSU 42.59 (Armstrong, Ofili’, Brown, Davies);
2. Kentucky 42.63 (Ballard, Steiner, Russell, Davis); 3. Texas A&M 43.38; 4. Mississippi 43.60; 5. Alabama 44.22.
4 x 400: 1. Kentucky 3:21.93 CR (WL, AL) (old CR 3:22.34 Texas A&M ’21; old AmCL 3:23.13 Oregon ’17) (Davis, Miles, Steiner 48.78, Holmes 49.60);
2. Texas A&M 3:22.01 (2 C; #2 school; also under old CR) (Robinson-Jones, Martin, Owens 49.52, Young’ 48.90); 3. Arkansas 3:22.55 (#3 school) (also under old AmCR) (Burks-Magee, Effiong, Baylark 52.05, Wilson 48.60); 4. South Carolina 3:25.45 (#8 school) (Davis, Dunmore, Frank 51.60, Registre 51.90);
5. Florida 3:26.85 ( Diggs 49.84); 6. Alabama 3:28.85; 7. Tennessee 3:36.63; 8. Auburn 3:37.11.
Field Events
HJ: 1. *Lamara Distin’ (TxAM-Jam) 6-4¾ (1.95) (missed 6-6¼/1.99); 2. Glenn 6-1¼ (1.86); 3. **Nyagoa Bayak (LSU) 6-1¼; 4. tie, Abigail O’Donoghue (LSU) & ***Elena Kulichenko’ (Ga-Rus) 5-10 (1.78).
PV: 1. **Amanda Fassold (Ar) 14-9 (4.50); 2. Lisa Gunnarsson’ (LSU-Swe) 14-7¼ (4.45); 3. **Lyndsey Reed (Ms) 14-1¼ (4.30).
LJ: 1. **Jasmine Moore (Fl) 22-1 (6.73); 2. **Morgan Smalls (LSU) 21-7¼ (6.58); 3. **Claire Bryant (Fl) 21-6¼ (6.56); 4. Deborah Acquah’ (TxAM-Gha) 21-5¼ (6.53); 5. Hall 21-¾ (6.42).
TJ: 1. Moore 47-5¼w (14.46) (46-1½/14.06); 2. Natricia Hooper’ (Fl-Guy) 45-1 (13.74); 3. *Titiana Marsh (Ga) 44-7½w (13.60); 4. **Mara Haeusler’ (Mo-Ger) 43-8½w (13.32);
5. *Arianna Fisher (Mo) 43-7¼ (13.29).
SP: 1. *Ana da Silva’ (Ga-Bra) 60-6¾ (18.46); 2. Divine Oladipo’ (Vand-GB) 58-11½ (17.97); 3. Latavia Maines (Tn) 58-7¼ (17.86); 4. Molly Leppelmeier (Ky) 54-6¾ (16.63);
5. Nickolette Dunbar (Al) 54-3¼ (16.54)*Titiana Marsh (Ga).
DT: 1. **Maura Huwalt (Aub) 184-5 (56.21); 2. Britt 178-4 (54.36); 3. *Jalani Davis (Ms) 176-4 (53.75); 4. Amber Hart (LSU) 176-4 (53.74); 5. **Jhordyn Stallworth (MsSt) 173-0 (52.75).
HT: 1. *Madi Malone (Aub) 227-8 (69.39); 2. Jade Gates (Ky) 219-11 (67.05); 3. ***Kassidy Gallagher (Al) 202-6 (61.73); 4. Deborah Bulai (Ms) 201-5 (61.41).
JT: 1. Ashley Carter (Aub) 180-1 (54.90); 2. ***Katelyn Fairchild (TxAM) 172-5 (52.55); 3. Samantha Zelden (Al) 171-1 (52.16); 4. *Julia Harisay (Ga) 170-8 (52.03).
Hept(5/12-13): 1. *Sterling Lester (Fl) 5749; 2. **Shayla Broughton (MsSt) 5370; 3. Asia Poe (MsSt) 5359; 4. *Caroline Lewis (Tn) 5212; 5. *Sara Van Aken (Ms) 5104. ◻︎