Tyson Invitational report

Arkansas junior Caleb Cross was hampered by injuries last year, but finished fifth in Saturday’s 60-meter hurdle final with a time of 7.80 seconds.
Arkansas junior Caleb Cross was hampered by injuries last year, but finished fifth in Saturday’s 60-meter hurdle final with a time of 7.80 seconds.

Hog has hurdle to clear

Smack dab in the middle of the USATF Classic was a college race, the men’s 60-meter hurdles. But that didn’t seem to bother Arkansas’ Caleb Cross.

The Razorbacks junior finished fifth in the final with a time of 7.80 seconds, the third time during the weekend that Cross ran within .01 of 7.80.

Cross was hoping for a breakthrough Saturday, but he was content to settle for being consistent after being hampered with injuries last year.

“I floated around 7.80 the whole weekend,” Cross said.

“I can’t be mad because I’m consistent, but I’m wanting to go to the next level. I’ve gotten over my injury, so now I’m back to the old problem of getting better. I can’t blame injuries anymore.”

Cross’ time was a provisional qualifier for the NCAA indoor championships,but he has one more chance at the SEC meet to get under 7.80, which is his goal.

“I definitely want to dip into the 7.70s,” Cross said. “I’m not down. I just wish I could have got it sooner [than SEC].”

Cross said it was a championship atmosphere with the hurdles being run in the middle of the Classic, just after the men’s and women’s 60 preliminaries that featured several former and future Olympic sprinters.

“It’s always fun to tell people you ran on TV,” Crosssaid. “It’s good to have the professionals around.”

UA women qualify

The least surprising mark of the day was the Arkansas’ women’s team’s automatic NCAA qualifier in the 1,600 relay with a time of 3 minutes, 32.75 seconds.

The Razorbacks’ quartermile crew is among the best in the nation with individual stars such as Regina George and Whitney Jones. George ran a final leg of 51.90 to seal the deal.

“The other three just need to give Regina a chance,” Arkansas Coach Lance Harter said. “I don’t think there is anyone better to anchor. It’s always nice to have a weapon at the end.”

Nice time, but ...

Former Arkansas nationalchampion Wallace Spearmon achieved one goal, running 6.66 seconds in the 60 meters to break his previous personal best of 6.70.

Spearmon’s time wasn’t good enough to push him into the final, though.

“I didn’t make the final and I wanted to do that, but heck yeah,” Spearmon said when asked if he was pleased with a new personal record. “I really didn’t want to run 6.66, mark of the beast. I don’t know how I feel about that. I’ll have to run it again so I can run a little faster.”

Holding her own

Arkansas junior Stephanie Brown ran with the professionals in the 1,500 on Saturday and finished eighth in 4:15.38.

Brown’s time was a personal best by two seconds, not bad for a raceshe ran just for practice.

Her time won’t translate to the indoor mile, and the Razorbacks don’t plan on running Brown in the mile indoors anyway.

Brown will have to run races in the 800 and legs on the distance medley relay on consecutive days at the SEC meet.

“It was great to run out there and be in the race with the big girls,” Brown said. “It was almost like running in a championship race.

“I learned I have to stay relaxed. Even if I’m in the back, I’m still running pretty fast.” Nice surprise

Jillian Camarena-Williams won the shot put with a distance of 65 feet, 3 1/4 inches to set the American record.

It’s the third time Camarena-Williams has set the record in the past 12 months. She is a seven-time USA Indoor champion and was third at the 2011 Outdoor World Championships.

She didn’t expect such a good distance Saturday because a change in her training routine has left her spent.

“I actually didn’t feel that great,” said Camarena-Williams, who was a seventime All-America at Stanford. “My legs are shot. Whenever you get in that ring, it’s time to compete.”

Camarena-Williams isn’t worried about peaking too soon with the London Olympics still six months away.

“It’s motivation to keep me working hard,” Camarena-Williams said.

“This is the best start I’ve ever had. I hope there is 4 or 5 more feet in me.”

Sports, Pages 32 on 02/12/2012

Upcoming Events