Arkansas 4x800 relay takes fifth at Texas

AUSTIN, Texas – Led by the freshman duo of Daniel Lacava and David Wittenmyer, the University of Arkansas 4×800-meter relay team finished fifth at the 79th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on Friday at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.

Lacava and Wittenmyer were joined by Colin Costello and Brian Roe to run 7:28.28 in the race and post a strong time against a tough field.

“I thought that the 4×800 was ok,” Arkansas head track coach John McDonnell said. “They were only fifth, but we haven’t done any speed work so far. We are just getting back and it’s early. We had a tough indoor season and are just in a different phase of training right now.”

Lacava began Arkansas’ race and posted a personal best time for 800 meters before handing off to Wittenmyer for the second leg. Also running at a personal best pace, Arkansas was behind the leaders, but still within striking distance of the top spots.

“Daniel ran a full second better than he did in high school,” McDonnell said. “David had a great run for him and once we got to Colin and Brian, they were trying to catch up and paid the price.”

Also competing for the Razorbacks on Friday was senior Brad Dittoe in the 400-meter hurdles. Running in an inside lane, Dittoe was unable to make up much of the stagger on his opponents through the first turn or backstretch, but came on strong down the final straightaway to take fourth in his heat with a time of 53.11. Dittoe’s mark was also 26th overall out of the 58-person field which failed to make the finals.

Rounding up the competition, senior Luis Bordes endured stifling heat in the 5,000-meter run to take seventh with a time of 15:12.55. Bordes looked good over the final two laps of the race, even passing several runners over the last 300 meters for his final position.

The Razorbacks are back in action on Friday afternoon with the sprints and relays and wrap up the Texas Relays on Saturday evening.