FAYETTEVILLE -- At last month's NCAA Women's West Outdoor Preliminary Track and Field qualifying meet in Austin, Texas, Razorbacks Coach Lance Harter saw the out-of-this-world Oregon Ducks slipping back towards earth.
Maybe, Harter reasoned, since some of the Ducks did not advance in Austin, his defending NCAA Outdoor champion Razorbacks would be among the SEC teams possibly overtaking or at least closely pursuing Oregon at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, which were held last week.
Oregon was nearly overtaken by an SEC team, but it wasn't the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
Georgia led Oregon 62.2-54 going into the 4x400 relay, which the Ducks won for 10 first-place points. The 64-62.2 victory enabled Oregon to become the first women's team to win the NCAA Cross Country-Indoor-Outdoor triple crown in the same academic year.
Georgia faring well did not surprise Harter.
Georgia is a better national meet team than a conference meet team. At least 10 points better, given that Georgia's 3-time NCAA Outdoor heptathlon champion Kendell Williams skipped the SEC meet for the NCAA meet.
In Williams' absence, Razorbacks Taliyah Brooks, Payton Stumbaugh, Leigha Brown and Kelsey Herman placed first through fourth, scoring 29 Razorbacks team points in the SEC heptathlon. Arkansas rolled to a 128-106 SEC Outdoor victory over runner-up LSU last month in Columbia, S.C.
Kentucky, Georgia and Florida were distant SEC meet also-rans to Arkansas.
During the two-day heptathlon, Herman crashed over the first hurdle on Day 1, and Stumbaugh withdrew after injuring her back in the long jump, then gamely ran the second leg of Arkansas' sixth-place 4x100 relay.
"Up until Payton getting hurt we stood second, third and fourth (in the heptathlon)," Harter said. "We had some people get nicked up, but we also had some great performances."
Senior Daina Harper ran a personal best 51.42 for fourth in the 400 meters. Pole vaulters Lexi Weeks and Tori Weeks, the sophomore twins from Cabot, and Desiree Freier placed second, sixth and tied for eighth. Again they were an All-American triumvirate as they were at the NCAA Indoor.
Fittingly, former Duck-turned-Razorback Nikki Hiltz proved you can go home again. Running her best-ever 1,500, Hiltz ran a second-place 4:13.80, just behind Michigan winner Jaimie Phelan at 4:13.78.
"One of of those photo finishes where everybody is waiting, looking at the scoreboard in a phenomenal field," Harter said. "A great opportunity for her to come back and strut her stuff at Oregon."
Sports on 06/14/2017