UA women take second straight title

Make it a second consecutive NCAA Indoor title for the University of Arkansas women's track and field team and the first for Chris Johnson as head coach.

The No. 1 Razorbacks won their latest national title Saturday night at Boston by scoring 55 points, including a 1-2-3 finish in the 400 meters by seniors Amber Anning, Nickisha Pryce and Rosey Effiong and a victory by junior Rachel Glenn in the high jump.

Florida took second with 50 points, followed by Georgia (33), Oregon (31) and Ole Miss (30).

Arkansas won its fifth Indoor championship along with titles in 2015, 2019, 2021 and last year. The Razorbacks also won NCAA Outdoor titles in 2016 and 2019 and a cross country championship in 2019.

Johnson was part of all those national championships as an Arkansas assistant coach for 12 years before being promoted to head coach last summer when Lance Harter retired.

Arkansas' men's team finished second to Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders, led by Terrence Jones' victories in the 60 and 200 meters, won their first NCAA Indoor title with 50.5 points. The defending champion Arkansas men finished second with 41 points.

Arkansas became the first women's program to sweep the top three spots in the 400 indoors with Anning winning in 50.79 seconds followed by Pryce (51.00) and Effiong (51.03)

After the trio combined for 24 points in the 400, they ran the 200 final 30 minutes later and scored another six points with Effiong taking sixth (23.10), Pryce seventh (23.18) and Anning eighth (23.62).

Glenn, a transfer from South Carolina who missed last season because of a knee injury, won Arkansas' first women's high jump title by clearing 6 feet, 6 3/4 inches to set an NCAA meet and tie the collegiate record.

It was the second NCAA Indoor title for Glenn, who won her first in 2021 as a freshman with the Gamecocks.

Glenn matched the collegiate record set earlier this year at the SEC meet by Texas A&M senior Lamara Distin -- who finished second Saturday with a mark of 6-5 1/2 -- and broke the NCAA meet record of 6-6 in 2009 by Texas' Destinee Hooker.

Arkansas senior Destiny Huven finished fourth in the 60 hurdles in a personal-best 7.99.

The Razorbacks' 1,600 relay was disqualified in the meet's final event after the team of freshman, junior Joanne Reid, sophomore Sanu Jallow and Effiong crossed the finish line first in 3:25.99.

It would have been the third consecutive year Arkansas won the relay. Instead South Carolina, which ran 3:26.20, was awarded the victory.

The disqualification didn't affect the Razorback winning the team title because they already had clinched that going into the relay.

In men's competition, Arkansas senior Romaine Beckford cleared 7 feet, 5 1/2 inches to win the high jump and equal his career-best height.

It was the second consecutive NCAA title for Beckford, but the first in the high jump for the Razorbacks since Kenny Evans won it in 1998.

Beckford transferred this year to Arkansas from South Florida, where last year he swept NCAA high jump titles indoors and outdoors.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff senior Caleb Snowden finished second in the high jump, clearing 7-4 1/4.

Arkansas senior Roje Stona finished second in the shot put with a school-record toss of 67-2 1/2. He broke the school record of 67-2 set by Jordan West last year.

Arkansas senior Lance Lang ran 20.95 seconds in the 60 to finish sixth.

The Razorbacks also got points Saturday with eighth-place finishes by senior Marcus Weaver in the heptathlon and the 1,600 relay team.

Weaver scored 5,859 points in the heptathlon, capped by running the 1,000 meters in 2:38.12 for the third-fastest time in the event.

Arkansas' 1,600 relay team of junior Connor Washington, Lang and juniors TJ Tomlyanovich and Steven McElory ran 3:04.7.

Arkansas State sophomore Colby Eddowes finished seventh in the heptathlon with a personal-best 5,859 points.

Florida was third in the men's team standings with 39 points followed by Northern Arizona (31) and North Carolina (26).

Arkansas seniors Daniel Specjcher and Yariel Soto Torrado finished ninth and 11 in the heptathlon, respectively, with 5,857 and 5,783 points.

Razorbacks senior Jack Turner didn't finish the heptathlon, dropping out after five events.

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