McLeod wins Jamaican hurdles title

Former Arkansas NCAA champion Omar McLeod is headed to his first Olympics.

McLeod, 22, won the 110-meter hurdles Saturday night in 13.01 seconds at the Jamaican Senior National Championships in Kingston to earn a spot at the Olympics later this summer in Rio de Janeiro.

It was the second consecutive Jamaican national title for McLeod, who trains in Fayetteville with Arkansas assistant coach Doug Case.

McLeod finished ahead of Deuce Carter (13.21) and Andrew Riley (13.49).

Saturday night’s victory continued a big year for McLeod, who won the 60 hurdles at the World Indoor Championships March 20 in Portland, Ore., and ran the fastest 110 hurdles time in the world this outdoor season (12.89) in Shanghai on May 14.

McLeod competed for Arkansas in 2014 and 2015 before turning professional. He won two 60 hurdles at the NCAA indoor meet and won the 110 hurdles at the NCAA outdoor meet last year.

McLeod became the third Jamaican with Arkansas ties to make the Olympic team along with Clive Pullen and Kemoy Campbell.

Pullen, who will be a senior at Arkansas next year, won the triple jump Thursday night at the Jamaican Championships by going a personal-best 55 feet, 5½ inches, which also surpassed the Olympic qualifying standard of 55-3½ .

Campbell, a five-time All-American for the Razorbacks who completed his eligibility in 2015, won the 5,000 at the Jamaican Championships Friday night in 13:43.21. He is qualified for the Olympics after surpassing the standard (13:25) by running 13.20.39 last year at Payton Jordan Invitational hosted by Stanford.

Former Razorback Veronica Campbell-Brown, 34, will attempt to qualify for her fifth Jamaican Olympic team when she runs in the 200 final tonight after running 23.07 in Saturday night’s semifinals to take the last qualifying spot. She likely will run on the 400 relay at the Olympics after taking fourth in the 100 Friday night in 11.10, but can qualify automatically by finishing in the top three in the 200.

Campbell-Brown has won seven Olympic medals — including two gold medals in the 200 — while competing in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. She was a four-time All-American for the Razorbacks in 2004, including winning the 200 indoor national title.

Upcoming Events