Razorback DMR Dominates at New Balance Invite

NEW YORK, N.Y.– Day one of the New Balance Collegiate Invite has concluded at the Armory Track and Field Center in New York, N.Y.

The distance medley relay dominated a strong field of the nation’s best but failed to improve their NCAA provisional-qualifying time. Daniel LaCava, Clemore Henry, Brian Roe and Adam Perkins combined for a clocking of 9:47.13.

“It’s really hard to run alone,” Arkansas assistant coach Kyle White said. “After the first 400 meters, they were alone from then on. It’s really hard to run well by yourself life that. This year was much better than this race last year. I think we finished fifth here last year.”

LaCava, who broke away from the pack with two laps to go, led off with a 2:58 1,200-meter leg. Henry took advantage of a second chance to run on his former track and logged a 47.8 400 meters, keeping the lead in tact. Roe added a 1:52 800 meters and Perkins closed with a 4:07 1,600-meter anchor, three seconds faster then the next team to finish (Texas A&M, 9:50.19).

“We ran well and we won; that was the main focus,” senior captain Perkins said. “We were a little disappointed because we were trying to go for the automatic time. Today was not the day for it because we were running on our own.”

J-Mee Samuels clocked his third NCAA provisional-qualifying time of the season with a 6.74 in the 60-meter dash prelims. Samuels finished with the seventh-fastest qualifying time and will compete in the finals of the event on Saturday.

Bentonville native Mychael Stewart set a personal best and won the championship long jump with a leap of 25-1.25, his second NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of the season. Alain Bailey earned a silver finish with his second NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 24-11.25.

Nkosinza Balumbu pulled double duty on Friday, competing in the collegiate long jump and the 60-meter hurdles. He finished seventh in the long jump with a 22-1.75 mark and clocked a time of 8.21 in the prelims of the hurdles. He did not advance to the hurdle finals on Saturday.

In the men’s collegiate high jump, Brent Rosson cleared 6-7 and finished fifth in the field of 23. His mark matched his season best.

Earlier in the day, in his return to the Armory Track and Field Center, Clemore Henry, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., clocked a 400-meter time of 48.56 in his first appearance in the event this season. Henry finished 26th overall and did not qualify for the finals.

The Razorbacks will continue on Saturday starting at 9:40 a.m. with the collegiate 3,000 meters. For complete results of the New Balance Collegiate Invite, visit www.hogwired.com.