No. 5 Razorbacks Pursue 11th Outdoor Title
Meet Schedule | Start List | National Championship Central
EUGENE, Ore. – Following a spectacular showing at the NCAA West Preliminary, the No. 5 Arkansas men’s track and field team will look to cap the 2016 season with a strong finish at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship on June 8-11 at the historic Hayward Field in Eugene.
The Razorbacks will enter the meet with the (20) most national qualifiers in the country following advancing almost half of their entries from the first round of the national meet two weekends earlier in Lawrence, Kansas.
What’s At Stake
Arkansas is in pursuit of its 11th NCAA outdoor championship last claiming the top spot in 2003 with a score of 59 points over Auburn (50). The Razorbacks will look to defend their 4-x-100-meter relay national title and collect a few more individual event champions improving on the two (110H, 4-x-100) earned from the 2015 competition.
2016 Qualifiers A-Z
Kenzo Cotton
Events: 100 and 200
Personal Bests: 10.25 and 20.25
Notes of Importance: Program record holder in the 60; Placed seventh in the 60 and third in the 200 at the NCAA Indoor Championship; lead leg of the 2015 NCAA 4-x-100 national title-winning relay team.
Brad Culp
Event: Decathlon
Personal Best: 7,438 points
Notes of Importance: Fifth-best decathlete in program history; set new personal bests in six of 10 decathlon events this season including the 100, 400, pole vault, long jump, discus and javelin.
Larry Donald
Event: 400 Hurdles
Personal Best: 50.90
Notes of Importance: 2016 Texas Relays 400H champion; Ranked ninth on Arkansas’ all-time bests list; placed sixth in the event at the SEC Outdoor Championship.
Gabe Gonzalez
Event: 10,000
Personal Best: 29:01.62
Notes of Importance: 2016 All-SEC in the 10K; improved his personal best by over three seconds; second team indoor All-American (5,000).
Obi Igbokwe
Event: 400
Personal Best: 46.32
Notes of Importance: Only freshman Razorback qualifier; 2016 NCAA indoor qualifier in same event; second-team indoor All-American with Arkansas’ 4-x-400 relay team.
Derek Jacobus
Event: Decathlon
Personal Best: 7,356 points
Notes of Importance: Improved his point total PR by 75 points from the start of the season to the SEC Championship; ranked sixth in the event in program history; transfer from Northern Iowa.
Kurt Jenner
Event: Long Jump
Personal Best: 7.63m/25-0 1/2
Notes of Importance: One of four Razorback long jumpers to leap to a 25-foot mark this season; has the ninth best mark in the SEC this season.
Jarrion Lawson
Event: 100, 200, Long Jump
Personal Bests: 10.04, 20.17 and 8.34m/27-4 1/2
Notes of Importance: Three-time national champion; program record holder in the 100; ranked second in Arkansas history in the 200; placed third in the 100 at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championship; seventh-best 200 time in the U.S. this season; NCAA indoor long jump national champion; SEC indoor and outdoor long jump champion.
Ken LeGassey
Event: High jump
Personal Best: 7.20m/7-2 ½
Notes of Importance: Has made it to the NCAA Outdoor Championships three years in a row; SEC indoor champion in the event this season and outdoor runner-up.
Clive Pullen
Event: Triple Jump
Personal Best: 16.78m/55-0 ¾
Notes of Importance: 2016 NCAA indoor champion; SEC indoor and outdoor champion; has the best wind-legal mark this season with his PR from the SEC meet.
Ryan Thomas
Event: 800
Personal Best: 1:47.62
Notes of Importance: Placed among the top five best 800 runners at the SEC Outdoor Championship; member of the second-place finishing 4-x-800-meter relay team at the Texas Relays.
Frankline Tonui
Event: 3,000-meter steeplechase
Personal Best: 8:39.82
Notes of Importance: Ninth in on Arkansas’ all-time bests list in the 3K steeple; SEC steeplechase champion; Cross country All-American.
Andreas Trajkovski
Event: Long Jump
Personal Best: 7.64m/25-0 ¾
Notes of Importance: Finished as one of the five best long jumpers in the nation at the NCAA indoor meet; SEC indoor runner-up; placed fifth at SEC Outdoors; transferred to Arkansas from Iowa Western in January of 2016.
Marqueze Washington
Events: 100 and 200
Personal Bests: 10.19 and 20.54
Notes of Importance: One of the top 400 runners in the nation during the indoor season, shifted focus to short sprints; Fourth in program history in the 100; The No. 1 qualifier out of the NCAA West Preliminary in the 100; National champion as anchor leg of the 4-x-100 in 2015.
Relays
The Razorbacks will look to defend their 4-x-100 relay national crown entering the 2016 competition with the fourth best time in the NCAA this year of 38.96. Arkansas’ 4-x-400 relay also has the potential to score some major points toward the team total as several Razorbacks have clocked sub-47 second splits in the event this season.
The 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship begins Wednesday, June 8 with the men’s decathlon at 2:30 p.m. CST.
The four-day competition will be broadcast live on the ESPN family of networks. A complete listing of coverage along with live results can be found on the National Championship Central website.
For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.
