NCAA WEST REGIONAL TRACK AND FIELD

Lawson leads Razorbacks to Outdoors

Arkansas' Jarrion Lawson, left, and Marqueze Washington compete Saturday, April 23, 2016, in the 100 meters during the John McDonnell Invitational at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville.
Arkansas' Jarrion Lawson, left, and Marqueze Washington compete Saturday, April 23, 2016, in the 100 meters during the John McDonnell Invitational at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville.

Arkansas' men's track and field team flexed its sprinting muscle Saturday at the NCAA West Regional in Lawrence, Kan.

Three Razorbacks advanced in the 200 meters -- led by senior Jarrion Lawson -- along with Arkansas' 400 and 1,600 relay teams to the NCAA Championships June 8-11 in Eugene, Ore.

Lawson ran 20.17 seconds in the 200 to take second with sophomore Kenzo Cotton third (20.35) and senior Marqueze Washington fourth (20.54).

Lawson, Cotton and Washington also advanced to nationals during Friday's heats of the 100.

The Razorbacks used seven different sprinters on their relays, with Cotton, Lawson, Davon Anderson and Josh Washington running 39.45 to take fifth in the 400 and Obi Igbokew, Cotton, Eric Janise and Jamarco Stephen running 3:05.62 to take ninth in the 1,600.

"We feel we've got a good sprint crew, and it's by design," Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam said. "We're in a sprint conference in the SEC, and the NCAA meet is sprint heavy, so we're trying to get stronger in that area and get more depth.

"We've made a lot of progress."

Arkansas senior Clive Pullen, the NCAA Indoor triple jump champion, went 52-9½ on his only attempt Saturday to take sixth and advance.

The No. 5 Razorbacks will have 18 athletes competing in 13 events at the NCAA Championships with 20 scoring opportunities.

Arkansas nearly had two more qualifiers, but Jack Bruce and Josh Washington both fell just short in the 1,500 and 200, respectively.

Twelve advance to nationals in each regional event and Bruce and Washington had the 11th-fastest overall times, but they were beaten out for spots by runners who finished higher in slower heats.

"It would have been an A-plus day if we hadn't narrowly missed on a couple of guys," Bucknam said. "If they'd made it, that would have made it a perfect meet.

"But we feel like for the most part we got the right people through. Now it's rest and recovery and on to Eugene."

Lawson, a three-time NCAA champion and 15-time All-American, advanced in four events, including the long jump, which he won Friday by going 26-0 on his only attempt.

"It was a phenomenal weekend for Jarrion," Bucknam said. "He did a great job getting through the rounds and doing the things he had to do to make sure he's going to score a lot of points for us at nationals."

Sports on 05/29/2016

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