Regina George advances at USAs

FAYETTEVILLE – Select current and former members of the Arkansas Razorback women’s track and field team competed at the USA Championships, in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday.

Freshman Regina George competed in the prelims of the junior 400 meters. She won her heat and finished second overall with a time of 52.84. She advanced to Saturday’s finals. Freshman Stephanie Brown ran the finals of the junior 800 meters. She finished third with a clocking of 2:06.11 and will serve as an alternate for Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, in July.

Sophomore Brittany Hyter competed in the prelims of the 400-meter hurdles. She finished 18th with a time of 59.61 and was spots away from advancing to the finals. Junior Shelise Williams was scheduled to run the semifinals of the 400 meters but did not start the race because of precautionary reasons with a sore foot. Volunteer assistant Monica Hargrove, semifinals of the 400 meters, third with a time of 51.42, will run in Saturday’s finals. Freshman Gwendolyn Flowers competed in the prelims of the 200 meters. She finished 25th overall with a time of 25.14.

Former Razorback LaShaunte’a Moore earned a runner-up finish in the 100 meters with a time of 11.34. She advanced to the finals after finishing with the fastest time of 11.37.

Late Thursday night, 2008 Olympian and former Razorback Amy Yoder Begley won her second consecutive U.S. 10,000-meter title over former Iowa State standout and two-time NCAA champion Lisa Koll in a highly competitive race.

"We got a huge break with the weather," Begley said. "We were really anticipating it to be so much hotter, so much more humid. When I saw how slow the guys were going, I thought maybe it was a bit more humid than I thought. I saw my coach right before the race and he said that it must be deceptively humid because the guys were slow. When I got out there, I thought it was fine."

The sixth-place finisher at the 2009 World Outdoor Championships in Berlin, Germany, Begley broke away from Koll in with one lap remaining before crossing the finish line first in 32:06.45, which shattered the previous Drake Stadium record of 32:44.95 set by Koll in 2008. Koll finished as the runner-up in 32:11.72.

"I am usually the one that leads and people sit on me," Begley said. "At three laps to go, (Alberto Salazar) said to go at 400, but I went at 500 because I was a little impatient. At the world level, they close in 56 seconds. Right now, my goal is just to get closer and closer to 60 seconds on that last lap. This race was great, defending my title. Maybe I can make it four in a row."

Competition for the Razorbacks will resume at 2:26 p.m. on Saturday.

On TV (CST):

ESPN, June 26, 12-1:30 p.m.

NBC, June 26, 2-3 p.m.

ESPN, June 27, 12-1:30 p.m.

NBC, June 27, 2-3 p.m.