FAYETTEVILLE -- Sandi Morris wanted to give the Randal Tyson Track Center crowd a little bit more to cheer about, but she had some company Saturday afternoon.
Morris, the Arkansas and SEC record holder in the women's pole vault, cleared 15 feet, 5 inches to win the Tyson Invitational women's invitational pole vault. But Lexi Weeks had the fans screaming -- and herself as well -- when she surpassed the 15-foot mark for the first time.
at Randal Tyson Track Center, Fayetteville
Saturday’s results
Men
200 1. Jaron Flournoy, LSU, 21.09; 2. Matthew Likely, Alabama 21.13; 3. Kahmari Montgomery, Missouri, 21.15; 4. Tinashe Mutanga, LSU, 21.21; 5. Edward Davis, Texas A&M, 21.33
200 INVITATIONAL 1. Christian Coleman, Tennessee, 20.59; 2. Sam Watts, TCU, 20.60; 3. Tevin Hester, Clemson, 20.71; 4. Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, LSU, 20.72; 5. David Winters, South Carolina, 20.78.
3,000 1. Colton Donahue, Kansas State, 8:20.60; 2. Nolan Border, Nebraska, 8:21.62; 3. Austin Post, Nebraska, 8:22.50; 4. Chris Mooneyham, unattached, 8:35.04; 5. Brett Bachman, Kansas State 8:38.29
3,000 INVITATIONAL 1. Bryce Miller, unattached, 8:18.85; 2. Matt Gilbert, Nebraska, 8:19.03; 3. Jason Engel, Air Force, 8:20.88; 4. Spencer Hrycay, Kentucky, 8:24.90; 5. Graham Brown, unattached, 8:27.26.
5,000 1. Hassan Abdi, South Plains, 14:36.71; 2. Daniel Shellhouse, Air Force, 14:39.60; 3. Sean Bapty, Air Force, 14:43.93; 4. Ryan Polman, Kentucky, 14:48.17; 5. Pat Letz, Nebraska, 14:54.19.
DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY 1. Texas A&M, 9:48.41; 2. Missouri, 9:57.31; 3. Nebraska, 9:57.77; 4. Kansas State, 10:10.15; 5. Nebraska, 10:10.61.
1,600 RELAY 1. Kansas, 3:10.83; 2. Arkansas “B,” 3:10.98; 3. Missouri, 3:12.27; 4. Baylor, 3:13.01; 5. Kansas State, 3:14.34.
1,600 RELAY INVITATIONAL 1. Texas, 3:04.41; 2. Texas Tech, 3:04.98; 3. Arkansas, 3:05.35; 4. Texas A&M, 3:06.73; 5. Nebraska, 3:06.96.
HIGH JUMP 1. Tye Williams, South Carolina, 6-11; 2. (tie) Spencer McCloud, Texas, and Quanterious Caldwell, Clemson, 6-9; 4. Jonathan Addison, NC State, 6-9; 5. Wesley Edwards, Tennessee, 6-9.
HIGH JUMP INVITATIONAL 1. Bradley Adkins, Texas Tech, 7-6; 2. Christoff Bryan, Kansas State, 7-4½; 3. Bryan McBride, unattached, 7-3¼; 4. Randall Cunningham, Southern Cal, 7-3¼; 5, Ricky Robertson, unattached, 7-2 1/4.
SHOT PUT 1. Nicolai Ceban, Kansas, 63-2; 2. Josh Awotunde, South Carolina, 62-3; 3. Jan Jeuschede, Iowa State, 61-9¾; 4. Nikolas Huffman, Kentucky, 58-5¾; 5. Chadrick DaCosta, Florida State, 57-9.
TRIPLE JUMP 1. Scotty Newton, TCU 51-10½; 2. John-Patrick Friday, Miami, 50-10; 3. Kaiwan Culmer, Nebraska, 50-6¼; 4. Jeffrey Prothro, Texas A&M, 50-0¾; 5. Tony Carodine, Missouri, 50-0.
TRIPLE JUMP INVITATIONL 1 Eric Sloan, Southern Cal 55-10½; 2. Jeremiah Green, Alabama 54-8¾; 3. Donald Scott, unattached, 54-7¼; 4. Clive Pullen, Arkansas 54-3¼; 5. Chris Bernard, unattached, 53-6½.
Women
200 1. Tynia Gaither, unattached, 23.11; 2. Destiny Carter, Kentucky, 23.43; 3. Taylor Bennett, Baylor, 23.50; 4. LaQuisha Jackson, Missouri, 23.61; 5. Briana Haith, South Carolina, 23.65.
200 INVITATIONAL 1. Felicia Brown, Tennessee, 22.81; 2. Taylor Ellis-Watson, Arkansas, 23.03; 3. Deanna Hill, USC, 23.09; 4. Robin Reynolds, Florida, 23.10; 5. Jada Martin, LSU, 23.20.
3,000 1. Katrina Santiago, Nebraska, 9:50.92; 2. Anne Den Otter, Miami, 10:10.25; 3. Madison Zimmerman, Baylor, 10:18.25; 4. Kirsten Johnston, TCU, 10:26.97; 5. Kristi Oslund, Nebraska 10:35.41.
3,000 INVITATIONAL 1. Jamie Kempfer, Missouri, 9:43.81; 2. Caroline McCaslin, Kentucky, 9:45.14; 3. Katerina Berdousi, Southern Cal, 9:50.40; 4. Avery Bussjager, Kentucky, 9:53.71; 5. Kelsey Schrader, Arkansas, 9:58.57.
5,000 1. Aubree Worden, Arkansas, 17:11.36; 2. Mary Reiser, South Carolina, 17:16.15; 3. Bonnie Smith, Nebraska, 17:31.06; 4. Catherine Herring, Clemson, 17:34.03; 5. Nicole Mello, Missouri, 17:40.13.
DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY 1. Texas A&M, 11:54.95; 2. South Plains, 13:16.07.
1,600 RELAY 1. Baylor, 3:37.57; 2. Missouri, 3:37.67; 3. Alabama, 3:38.30; 4. Texas, 3:39.07; 5. Kansas, 3:40.30.
1,600 RELAY INVITATIONAL 1. Texas, 3:27.94; 2. Southern Cal, 3:28.82; 3. Arkansas, 3:32.27; 4. Kentucky, 3:32.51; 5. Miami, 3:34.04.
HIGH JUMP 1. Sarah Graham, South Carolina, 5-7¼; 2. (tie) Grete Sadeiko, Florida State; Jenna Pfeiffer, Baylor; and Shelley Spires, Air Force, 5-7¼; 5, Leigha Brown, Arkansas 5-7¼.
HIGH JUMP INVITATIONAL 1. Kimberly Williamson, Kansas State, 6-0½; 2. (tie) Nakita Gray, South Carolina, and Erika Hurd, Cincinnati, 5-11¼; 4. Stacey Destin, Alabama, 5-11¼; 5. Claire Orcel, Alabama, 5-9¼.
POLE VAULT 1. Haley Cook, Texas Tech, 13-7¼; 2. Kristen Denk, Tennessee, 13-7¼; 3. Tess Merrill, Nebraska, 13-7¼; 4. Anna Reed, Alabama, 13-1½; 5. Alyssa Applebee, Missouri, Britainy Smith, Alabama, 13-1½.
POLE VAULT INVITATIONAL 1. Sandy Morris, Nike, 15-5; 2. Lexi Weeks, Arkansas, 15-1; 3. Alysha Newman, Miami, 14-9; 4. Annie Rhodes, Baylor, 14-5¼; 5. Lakan Taylor, Alabama, 13-7¼.
SHOT PUT 1. Chase Ealey, Okla. State, 57-10¼; 2. Cion Hicks, Baylor, 57-¾; 3. Christina Hillman, Iowa State, 56-5¼; 4. Cassie Wertman, Tennessee, 55-7½; 5. Dani Winters, Kansas State, 55-3¾.
TRIPLE JUMP 1. Natasha Dicks, South Carolina, 43-2¼; 2. Anasterasia Terrell, Clemson, 43-0¼; 3. Iana Amsterdam, Clemson, 42-6¼; 4. Rachel Toliver, Baylor, 42-3½; 5. Tierra Williams, Nebraska, 42-0.
TRIPLE JUMP INVITATIONAL 1. Yanis David, Florida, 44-3½; 2. Amanda Smock, unattached, 43-8; 3. Viershanie Latham, Texas Tech, 43-8; 4. Darrielle McQueen, Florida, 43-2¼; 5. Rebecka Abrahamsson, Cincinnati 42-10¾.
"To have another 15-footer join the club as a Razorback, that's amazing," Morris said of Weeks. "That gives us four, and most schools are lucky to have one. I couldn't be happier for her. We'll be here training with each other, and we'll push each other."
Weeks, a freshman from Cabot, cleared 15-1 on her second attempt to become the NCAA co-leader this season and set a collegiate freshman record. Once her back hit the mat and she realized the bar didn't fall, she performed a quick roll on the mat and the emotions took over.
Moments later, the celebration begun as she was met by twin sister Tori, who finished tied for sixth at 13-71/4.
"Coming into the meet, that was my goal," Lexi Weeks said of the clearance. "Once that bar got up there, I was ready to go. I've been ready to jump it.
"It's just so surreal just being a freshman and having the success I've had so far. I wanted to clear 15 feet this year, but clearing it so early in the season ... I never thought it would be a possibility."
Weeks' performance also gave Morris a little extra competition since they were the only vaulters to clear 15-1. Morris easily cleared 15-5 on her first attempt while Weeks bowed out, and that's when the former Razorback decided to do something she has yet to do in her career -- clear 16 feet.
She skipped 15-10, a height she cleared last weekend at Missouri Southern, and went straight to 16-0, which has only been cleared by two other Americans, Jenn Suhr and Demi Payne. Morris, however, missed on all three tries.
"There's really not a bar for me between 4.70 [15-5] and 4.90 [16-0] that meant anything to me," Morris said. "I was feeling ready to go, and you're never going to make the bar unless you put it up there and give yourself a chance to jump it.
"I think it's in the horizon and higher bars, too. I was trying to figure out which pole I need to use. The first two times, I went with a stiffer pole, but the last time was when I had the best look at it. I got the jitters out and got my best shot at it."
Arkansas' women sent most of their distance runners to compete in Iowa State this weekend, but Aubree Worden made the most of staying home. The senior ran the 5,000 meters for the first time in four years and won with a time of 17 minutes, 11.36 seconds, beating second-place finisher Bonnie Smith of Nebraska by almost 20 seconds.
"I was just trying to run it for fun and see what happens," Worden said. "I thought at first I was going to pace it and go out after 3,000 meters because I had run the mile [Friday]. I felt good at the 3K mark, so I was going to finish it."
Arkansas' men didn't enjoy the same success as the women, but two Razorbacks were able to set personal bests. Junior Clive Pullen finished fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 54-31/4, while Ken LeGassey cleared 7-21/4 to set a personal-best and finish sixth in the high jump.
Sports on 02/14/2016