Hogs win 4x800 at Texas Relays

AUSTIN, Texas – The Arkansas Razorback women’s 4×800-meter relay started the weekend off right with a race win on day two of the 2010 Texas Relays, at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.

The quartet of freshman Regina George (2:10.7), sophomore Samantha Learch (2:08.01), sophomore Kristen Gillespie (2:08.02) and freshman Stephanie Brown (2:07.68) combined for a winning time of 8:35.17. Their time is fastest clocked in the U.S. in 2010 and is No. 3 on Arkansas’ all-time list.

"To win this race and be just a few seconds off our school record and the meet record is outstanding," head coach Lance Harter said. "I haven’t put a team in this race since my days at Cal Poly and we had the same outcome. We asked Regina to lead off and she has been a consistent competitor. We fell off a little bit and Samantha got us back in good position. Stephanie did a great job of keeping that good position and really gave us a gutsy race. We have a lot of respect for LSU’s 800-meter runners and on any given day we were able to beat them. It’s always good to get a win at Texas Relays."

Arkansas and LSU ran 1-2 the whole eight-lap race. Brown tucked in behind LSU anchor LaTavia Thomas and passed her with 120 meters to go. Thomas, a multi-time NCAA Champion and All-American for the Tigers, challenged back but Brown was able to out-kick her as they approached the finish line. Arkansas won this race last during the 2005 season.

Freshman Leah Orley and sophomore Brittany Hyter both advanced to the finals of the 400-meter hurdles, scheduled to run Saturday. Orley finished seventh overall with a time of 1:01.67 while Hyter was eighth in 1:01.68.

Events will resume at 9:30 a.m. on Friday for the Razorbacks with the prelims of the 4×100-meter relay and the 100-meter hurdles.