FAYETTEVILLE — Eight hundred meters cost Makeba Alcide a perfect day.
Alcide, an Arkansas sophomore, finished fourth in the women’s pentathlon with a personal-best 3,959 points at the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday at the Tyson Track Center. Teammate Leah Orley finished eighth in the pentathlon to give Arkansas six points in the team standings, good enough for a tie for third.
Razorbacks freshman Kevin Lazas was in second place after four events in the heptathlon. Lazas, who was seeded third, was at 3,186 points, trailing Florida’s Gray Horn, who had 3,212.
Alcide’s point total was a national record for St. Lucia but it was not an automatic qualifier for nationals norwas it enough to get her into the SEC top three. Those were Alcide’s main goals heading into the competition, and she looked poised to earn at least one of them entering the final event, the 800 meters.
Alcide was in second place, 183 points behind eventual winner Precious Nwokey of Kentucky, after four events. She had led the 16-women field after the high jump and the shot put competitions.
The 800 didn’t go Alcide’s way, finishing in 2 minutes, 25.44 seconds, the seventh-best time of the meet. Alcide’s personal best is 2:20.24, and a similar time would have put her second overall.
“It was almost a perfect day for me,” Alcide said. “In the last event, I messed up, and it affected me point-wise. I didn’t run my race, and it got to me.”
Arkansas women’s Coach Lance Harter was more forgiving of Alcide’s 800, since she had personal-best marks in the first four events.
“You get greedy in this meet,” Harter said. “It would have been nice to finish in the [800]. Makeba had a great day. It’ll put her on the bubble for NCAA’s.”
Harter said the Razorbacks had hoped to score eight points in the pentathlon but wasn’t overly disappointed to fall two points shy of that. Orley, who has been hampered in training by nagging leg injuries, jumped from 11thto 8th place with a 2:26.78 in the 800.
Maybe nothing to write home about, but Orley was happy to contribute a point to the team race. Orley was hoping to run a 2:20-type time but said injuries have prevented her from putting in the training miles to make such a run possible.
“I think I did OK,” Orley said. “My 800 was a big disappointment. I was hoping to place a little bit higher, of course.”
Arkansas’ men are in good position to generate some points in the heptathlon today. Lazas could score big points in the pole vault, which is one of his best events, although Horn is a prohibitive favorite to win barring a setback.
“I had an awesome day, and I had good people around me that kept me up to speed,” Lazas said.
Lazas had personal best marks in the 60, the shot put and the high jump, not surprising since it’s his first major indoor meet of his college career.
“He did some good stuff,” Arkansas assistant coach Travis Geopfert. “It’s fun to see freshmen. They can either step up or get scared.”
Arkansas had two other athletes in scoring position with junior Terry Prentice in fourth place with 3,012 points and sophomore Matt Kirbos was in seventh with 2,791.
Sports, Pages 20 on 02/26/2011