BASKETBALL
UAPB's Beck, Peat enter transfer portal
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff seniors Coriah Beck and Maya Peat both announced Tuesday on the social media platform X that they'll be entering the transfer portal.
Beck, a 5-11 guard, was a second-team all-Southwestern Athletic Conference pick this past season for the Golden Lions, who finished 17-16 and advanced to the semifinals of the league's postseason tournament. The Fayetteville native was second on the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game and averaged 4.1 rebounds while playing just over 28 minutes nightly.
Peat, a 6-6 center from Arizona, was also a second-team all-conference performer and averaged 10.5 points and 6.4 rebounds for UAPB. She had a season-high 22 points during a 103-87 victory at McNeese State on Dec. 31.
-- Erick Taylor
UCA's Anderson enters transfer portal
Tucker Anderson, a freshman forward for the University of Central Arkansas men's basketball team, entered the transfer portal Tuesday. He is the fourth Bear, after junior Camren Hunter and sophomores Carl Daughtery Jr. and Johannes Kirsipuu to enter.
Anderson, a Bentonville West graduate, was the ASUN Freshman of the Year this season, averaging a team-high 14.5 points on 41.5% shooting from the field and 38.1% from three-point range on 6.4 attempts per game.
Anderson told On3Sports that there is a possibility he returns to UCA, which hired John Shulman as its new head coach on March 18 after the Bears finished 9-23.
-- Sam Lane
HORSE RACING
Early morning crash kills 3 horses
An early morning trailer crash in Kentucky that killed three thoroughbreds bound for Keeneland Race Course on Monday was traveling from Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, not Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs as several media sources have claimed.
The tractor trailer was traveling east around 4:49 a.m. on the Bluegrass Parkway toward Lexington, Ky., when it "crossed the median and west bound lanes, colliding into the embankment of the overpass," a news release from the Bardstown (Ky.) Police Department said.
The release said the trailer contained seven horses, "3 of which were pronounced dead on scene. The other 4 suffer from life threatening injuries and have been transported to an animal hospital."
Jason Milligan, Oaklawn's vice president of racing, confirmed via email the horses were not traveling from Arkansas, noting "they were shipping from New Orleans to Kentucky."
The horses came from the barn of trainer Eddie Kenneally, and according to a post shared Monday afternoon by Double O Racing on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, one of the horses that was killed in the crash was 3-year-old Darkroom, that had won 2 of 4 starts, including an allowance race on March 15 in his last appearance. Double O Racing was part owner of the horse along with Kenneally, Kim Valerio and Martha Ingram.
Thoroughbred Daily News noted the 3-year-old Vitement, out of Mizzen Mast, was among the injured horses. The colt last finished third in the $150,000 Ozark Stakes on Feb. 10 at Oaklawn.
-- James Leigh
GOLF
UA men finish 4th in Florida
The University of Arkansas men's team had its best round of the tournament with a pair of eagles as part of a final-round 7-under to finish at the Valspar Collegiate on Tuesday in Palm City, Fla.
No. 11 Florida State maintained its large lead and logged a 19 under to win by four strokes over No. 3 Vanderbilt.
Arkansas moved up a spot to finish one spot behind No. 4 Arizona State, which came in at 10 under after shooting 7 under on Tuesday.
Senior Christian Castillo had his best tournament as a Razorback by tying for second place on the 7,114-yard Floridian Course. The transfer from High Point opened his round with an eagle on the 637-yard fifth hole and carded a 4-under 67 to finish at 9 under, tied with Vanderbilt's Matthew Riedel five strokes behind medalist Luke Clanton of Florida State.
"I'm very proud of the team this week," Arkansas Coach Brad McMakin said. "It was a great effort by the entire lineup from top to bottom. I'm most proud that we finished strong and did so against an NCAA Championship caliber field."
Arkansas senior Jacob Skov Olesen was rolling at 2 under through five holes before posting a triple-bogey 7 on the 11th hole then battling back to a round of 70. He tied for for 16th place at 1 under.
Senior John Driscoll had a 71 on Tuesday and tied for 22nd place. Freshman Thomas Curry had an eagle on the 529-yard 13th and roared back from a rough opening day to shoot 4-under 67 and tie for 51st at 6 over for the tournament.
Junior Manuel Lozada had a non-scoring 74 on Tuesday and finished tied for 57th at 7 over.
"We've had some great results this year but left a couple of tournaments with a sour taste due to our final rounds," McMakin said. "Christian played his best college tournament and carried us this week. The rounds by Christian and Thomas today were instrumental in our finish."
Rounding out the top 10 was Oklahoma in fifth place at even par, Duke (1 over), Texas A&M (3 over), North Carolina (4 over), Wake Forest (6 over) and a tie for 10th between Alabama and Texas at 7 over.
Miller, SAU win in El Dorado
Southern Arkansas University had three golfers finish in the top five individually, including medalist Caleb Miller, and four in the top 12 as the Muleriders won the team title at the Arkansas Collegiate at Mystic Creek Golf Club in El Dorado.
Miller shot a 3-over 75 on Tuesday to finish with a 5-over 149 total, one stroke better than teammate Connor Harrington and Delta State's Purin Yingpisit. SAU's Logan McDonald finished fifth after shooting a 6-over 78 for an 8-over 152 total, while Collin Spangler finished in a three-way tie for 12th place at 12-over 156 after shooting a 6-over 78 on Tuesday.
Southern Arkansas finished with a 607 total as a team, 20 strokes better than Northeastern (Okla.) State and 21 strokes better than Henderson State University. Harding University finished in a tie for fourth place with a 632 total, while Arkansas Tech (636) was seventh and the University of Arkansas-Monticello (667) was 10th.
Bianchi leads HSU in Fort Smith
Allie Bianchi of Henderson State University carded a 1-over 71 to finish as the co-champion after the lone round of the Hardscrabble Invitational in Fort Smith.
Bianchi won her third tournament of the season and posted her third consecutive top-five finish. She has placed in the top 10 in eight of the nine tournaments Henderson State has played this season.
After starting the round 2-over after three holes, Bianchi played the final 15 holes at 1-under with a birdie and 14 pars. Lily Nelson, playing in her first tournament of the season, finished in a tie for fifth place individually after a 7-over 77.
As a team, Henderson State finished third with a 41-over 321 total. Harding won the event with a 33-over 313 total, followed by Midwestern State at 38-over 318.
TRACK AND FIELD
Harding athletes honored
Cella Nuema was honored by the Great American Conference on Tuesday as its women's track athlete of the week, while Dakarai Bush was named the men's co-athlete of the week and Anton Kopytko was honored as the men's field athlete of the week.
Nguema became the second Bisons hurdler to produce an NCAA provisional time when she ran the 100-meter hurdles in 14.17 seconds at the Ole Miss Classic in Oxford, Miss. She finished as the fastest non-Division I participant, breaking a six-year-old school record in the process, and her time ranks as the sixth-fastest in Division II.
Bush established the conference's fastest times in the 200 and 400 at the Ole Miss Classic. His 400 time of 46.89 seconds came within a hundredth of a second off his winning time at the indoor national championships and ranks second in Division II.
Kopytko, an All-American in the long jump at the indoor championships, began his outdoor campaign by jumping 24 feet, 4 inches at the Ole Miss Classic, a leap that won the competition and broke his own school record. His jump leads the conference and ranks fifth in Division II.
-- Democrat-Gazette Press Services