COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Arkansas senior Taliyah Brooks was reminded time and time again what she had to do in the 800 meters if she was to win the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
As the athletes warmed up for the last of five events, the PA announcer repeatedly let the packed house at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium know that if Brooks was to win overall, she was going to have to hold off Kansas State's Nina Schultz by 10 seconds in the 800.
Brooks kept Schultz within arm's length the first two laps of the 800 and then lost about a second in each of the last two laps.
"I can hear that and I was nervous, but it was a different kind of nervous than I would normally have because I knew I wouldn't have to run that fast, just clean and stay within five or six seconds I would win it all," Brooks said. "I did pay attention to her, no one but that K-State jersey. I wasn't going push the 10-second limit and that's what I did, knowing it was icing on the cake for my senior year."
It ended up being plenty for Brooks, who finished with 4,572 points -- eight behind her best, but 105 ahead of Kansas State's Schultz, who was third last year. She finishes her collegiate indoor stead as the fourth-highest career scorer at the NCAA championships in pentathlon.
"This is very exciting because the last four years we've put a lot of hard work into it, coach [Chris] Johnson and coach [Bryan] Compton and the trainer Mark [Hinton], so I'm really excited I was able to win it for the team and get 10 points and bring the multi title back to Arkansas because it's been a few years," Brooks said.
Brooks' point totals in each event were not unlike last season when she finished second to Georgia's Kendall Williams for the second time.
She cut .08 off her hurdle time with an 8.05, matched her high jump at 6-0 ½, bettered her shot put by 7 ¼ inches with a 39-10 ¾, fell 4 ¾ inches shy in the long jump with a leap of 20-10 ½ and ran a 2:22.44 for the same score she had last season in the finale.
"Taliyah has been in the shadows [of Williams], and she has gone from recovering from surgery and redshirting her freshman year," Arkansas women's Coach Lance Harter said. "She is going to be on our wall of champions forever and I couldn't ask anything more from Taliyah."
The high jump was the key event, with Brooks clearing her last two bars on the third jump to match Schultz and her lifetime best to stay atop the field as she did throughout after winning the 60 hurdles.
"I knew those two jumps were big because I knew Nina was a very good high jumper, so when I saw her clear a bar I knew I needed to clear the bar so I could keep the points close after the high jump," Brooks said. "That was just my inner competitor coming out because Johnson always said I have to be able to clear third-bar jumps and that is what I did today.
Getting through to the finals for the No. 2 Razorbacks were Nikki Hiltz in the mile, and Payton Chadwick and Janeek Brown in the 60-meter hurdles.
"We are right on schedule because today is the day of trying to get people to advance and we got our two hurdlers through and our miler," Harter said. "If we can duplicate what she did today, we will be real pleased with our outcome and we are in the conversation still."
Hiltz was the last (10th) to qualify with her 4:40.56, but finished fourth in her heat.
Chadwick had the top qualifying time with a PR of 7.93. Brown finished at 8.11.
Arkansas also has three athletes in the pole vault.
"Georgia had a fantastic day, picking up five points in the 5,000 which was unexpected and I think they are going to get where they are going to distance themselves from the rest of the field and gives them an opportunity to relax," Harter said. "Then it's just a mad dash, because Kentucky had a good day, LSU had a great day and USC looked to have a good day, so the four or five of us are interchanging."
Georgia went 1-2-3 in the long jump and leads with 33 points and has a 20-point lead over Florida. New Mexico is third and Arkansas is tied with the 10 points Brooks earned.
Sports on 03/10/2018