Three wins at Jacobs Invitational

WALNUT, Calif. – The No. 8 University of Arkansas women’s track and field team collected three event wins Saturday at the John Jacobs Invitational in Norman, Okla. The Razorbacks picked up wins from Brittany Hyter in the 100-meter hurdles, Natanya Luther in the 1,500 meters and the 4×400-meter relay.

Running in her first of three races of the day, Hyter took the tape in the sprint-hurdle event in a time of 13.67. She led a trio of top-6 finishes for Razorback competitors in the event with Ivanique Kemp in fourth at 13.90 and combined-events specialist Makeba Alcide in sixth at 14.52. Later in the day, Hyter returned to the track for a bronze finish in the 400-meter hurdles.

Arkansas’ first win of the day came from Luther in the 1,500 meters. She ran to the first-place performance in a time of 4:35.91, nearly three seconds faster than her previous best. Rachel Carpino finished 11th in the event with a 4:56.42 performance.

The last event of the day produced another win for the Razorbacks. The quartet of Hyter, Whitney Jones, Regina George and Gwendolyn Flowers combined for a winning time of 3:35.77 in the 4×400-meter relay. The team was running without its senior leader Shelise Williams who won the 400 meters Friday afternoon at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif.

In addition to her performance in the mile relay, George picked up a pair of runner-up finishes of her own in the 200 and 400 meters. Her time of 23.29 in the 200 meters is a personal best while her time of 52.73 in the 400 meters is No. 2 in the SEC, behind Williams, and fourth overall in the NCAA; George was the top collegiate finisher in the 400 meters. In the same events, Flowers had personal bests, including the first sub-24 second 200 meters of her career.

Alcide turned in a career-best performance in the long jump. The Razorback sophomore finished second in the event with a day’s best mark of 19-6, more than a foot better than her previous best. Entering the event, Alcide’s best in the long jump was 17-11.5, set last weekend at Texas Relays. In the triple jump, Shantel Thompson also finished second with a mark of 40-1.5.

In the pole vault, freshmen Danielle Nowell and Megan Weller had personal-best clearances. Nowell finished fifth with a clearance of 12-3.5 while Weller was seventh with a jump of 11.9.75.

The Razorbacks return to the track April 22-23 for the John McDonnell Invitational in Fayetteville. Friday’s competition begins at noon with the hammer throw while action on Saturday gets underway at noon with the hurdle events. For home meet details and continued coverage, log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.