FAYETTEVILLE -- Jarrion Lawson is in a hurry whether he's on or off the track.
The Arkansas junior's speed has helped him become a five-time All-American in the long jump and 1,600-meter relay.
SEC Outdoors
WHERE Starkville, Miss.
WHEN Today-Saturday
MEN’S DEFENDING CHAMPION Texas A&M
WOMEN’S DEFENDING CHAMPION Arkansas
MEN’S CONTENDERS No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Florida, No. 8 Arkansas
WOMEN’S CONTENDERS No. 1 Arkansas, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Florida, No. 9 Texas A&M
NOTEWORTHY Arkansas’ men’s team has national leaders this outdoor season in Omar McLeod (110-meter hurdles) and Stanley Kebenei (3,000-meter steeplechase). Kemoy Campbell is ranked second nationally in the 5,000 meters, and Andrew Irwin is third in the pole vault.
Jarrion Lawson glance
TEAM Arkansas
CLASS Junior
HOMETOWN/HIGH SCHOOL Texarkana (Texas) Liberty-Eylau
EVENTS Long jump, sprints
HEIGHT 6-2
NOTEWORTHY A five-time All-American, which includes winning the NCAA indoor long jump title as a sophomore in 2014 with a leap of 27-6 1/2. … Will compete in the long jump, 100 meters and 400-meter and 1,600-meter relays at this weekend’s SEC Outdoor Championships.
Last weekend he graduated from the UA, completing his kinesiology degree in three years.
"We're just really proud of Jarrion because he's competing at a world-class level, he's a national champion, and yet he graduated in three years," Razorbacks Coach Chris Bucknam said. "He's very structured with how he does his day.
"He's got great parental support at home. He's highly motivated, and he carries a great attitude. He's a phenomenal kid."
Lawson, who plans to start work toward a master's degree in business next year while competing as a senior, doesn't have to worry about doing homework or studying for finals this week with the end of the spring semester.
"Everything's lovely right now," Lawson said with a smile. "I'm able to just focus on the athlete part of the student-athlete."
Lawson will be busy competing in four events at the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which begin today in Starkville, Miss., and run through Saturday.
"He's going to get a workout in this weekend," Bucknam said.
Lawson will long jump Friday at 2 p.m., then run in the 100-meter preliminaries at 5 p.m. If he advances to the 100 final, he'll run that at 4:20 p.m. Saturday between legs on Arkansas' 400-meter relay at 3 p.m. and 1,600-meter relay at 6:25 p.m.
It's a heavy workload, but Lawson is excited about the challenge. He said it reminds him of competing at Texarkana (Texas) Liberty-Eylus High School, where he was a five-time state champion.
"I've done 10 events in two days before with prelims and finals, so it's kind of like getting back to my old self," Lawson said. "I feel like I have the capacity to do it."
Lawson has enjoyed his most success at Arkansas in the long jump, where he's a three-time All-American, including winning the NCAA indoor title as a sophomore when he went 27-6 1/2 and taking second at this year's NCAA indoors at 27-1 3/4. He was second at the USA Outdoor Championships last year, going 26-8 1/4.
Tendonitis in Lawson's left knee limited him to long jumping at one outdoor meet this season, when he went 24-11 1/4 April 10 at the John McDonnell Invitational in Fayetteville. That mark was good enough to quality for NCAA regionals, so Bucknam and Arkansas field events coach Travis Geopfert made the decision to not have Lawson jump again until the SEC meet.
"You can't go to the well every weekend," Bucknam said. "In our sport, it comes down to championship season ultimately."
Sprinting doesn't impact Lawson's knee as much as jumping, so he has focused on running relays this season. He's been so impressive on the 400 relay that Arkansas' coaching staff decided to enter him in the 100 at the SEC meet.
"He's looking really good in the sprints, the best we've seen him look since he's been here," Bucknam said. "We know he's got a lot of potential in that area."
Bucknam said he's as eager as anyone to see how Lawson runs and jumps this weekend.
"It'll be interesting to see what happens, even for us as coaches," Buckman said. "Nothing would surprise us with him. I think he's capable of jumping beyond 27 feet, and I think he's capable of running really fast in the 100 meters."
Lawson said his knee is feeling good and he's excited to long jump in a meet for the first time in a month. He said he expects it will take 27 feet to win and that he's ready to do that.
"Have I got it in me?" Lawson said. "Yeah, I do. I always have it in me."
Lawson is fine mixing in the 100 and relays with jumping.
"I just like competing," he said. "Of course, jumping is my passion, but I'm fast enough to sprint so I love doing that, too. I love helping my teammates wherever I can."
Lawson had a big head start on graduating from Arkansas before he arrived on campus. He said he came to Arkansas with more than 30 college hours thanks to classes he passed at Texarkana Community College and advanced placement classes when he was a high school senior.
"My mom always told me school is the first priority," Lawson said. "So I get my homework done. Then I do my athlete part."
Lawson was recruited by numerous schools and said his top choices came down to Arkansas, Texas A&M, Oregon, Stanford and Alabama. He said he chose to sign with Arkansas based on the team atmosphere, coaches, academics, tradition and facilities.
As a freshman, he finished fourth in the long jump to help the Razorbacks win the 2013 NCAA indoor championship.
"When won the national championship," he said, "I knew this would be the right place for me."
Sports on 05/14/2015