2011 OUTDOOR NOTES 2011 NCAA Championships: The Razorbacks scored 18 points to finish in 14th place at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Arkansas’ points came from a second-place finish by Tina Sutej in the pole vault, fourth-place result by Shelise Williams in the 400 meters, sixth-place showing by Regina George in the 400 meters and seventh-place finish by Brittany Hyter in the 400-meter hurdles.
Collegiate Record, Part II: En route to her pole vault victory at the SEC Championships, Tina Sutej set the NCAA record with a 15-1.5 clearance, replacing the old mark of 15-1 set by Chelsea Johnson of UCLA in 2006. In addition to setting the NCAA outdoor mark, she also set the Arkansas school record, SEC meet record, Spec Towns Track facility record, Slovenian national record and current world-leading mark.
Regional Recognition: The Razorbacks collected a pair of USTFCCCA regional honors when Tina Sutej was named the South Central Field Athlete of the Year and Rolando Greene was selected as the South Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year. Sutej sweeps the regional awards this year, having won the indoor award earlier in 2011. Greene was also the 2004 USTFCCCA National Assistant Coach of the Year and the 2007 USTFCCCA Mideast Region Sprint Coach of the Year.
Out with a Bang: With team’s position already locked into third place at the outdoor conference meet, the 4x400m relay foursome of Regina George, Shelise Williams, Gwendolyn Flowers and Whitney Jones crossed in first place to give Arkansas back-to-back outdoor titles. The team combined for a time of 3:32.23, a new Spec Towns Track facility record. The old mark of 3:32.94 was set by South Carolina in 1999.
Brown’s Big Breakthrough: Stephanie Brown ran to a win at the NCAA West Prelims in a time of 2:02.59, good for the top qualifying time of the day, the second-best time in program history and an improvement on her previous best of 2:04.31. Brown enters the national meet with the top qualifying time. Sutej Adds SEC Accolades: After a second consecutive SEC pole vault title, Tina Sutej was named the SEC Female Field Athlete of the Year. She is the second Razorback to earn the distinction (Katie Stripling, 2009). Sutej won the league indoor honor, too. Qualifying for Prelims: The Razorbacks collected entries for 20 student-athletes--spread among 12 events--and their 4x400 relay at the NCAA West Prelims. This year’s event will be held May 26-28 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Arkansas has multiple entries in six events, including a team-high five runners in the 1,500 meters. RECAP - SEC Championships: Arkansas finished the SEC Championships with 107 points, good for third place at the Spec Towns Track in Athens, Ga. During the weekend, Arkansas successfully defended its SEC outdoor titles with Tina Sutej in the pole vault and the 4x400 relay; the Razorbacks also added a new champion with Makeba Alcide in the heptathlon. The Razorbacks now have 55 SEC event titles.
Alcide for the Win: Makeba Alcide scored a career-best 5,646 points to earn the fifth SEC heptathlon title in program history, and the first for Arkansas since the 2009 season. Her point total is also a Spec Towns Track facility record, a national record for Alcide’s native St. Lucia and the fourth-best performance in program history. Alcide cracked the top-five list previously monopolized by former Razorbacks Gi-Gi Miller and DeeDee Brown. RECAP - Arkansas Twilight: The Razorbacks collected nine wins last Friday at the Arkansas Twilight, including a schoolrecord performance by Tina Sutej in the pole vault and a top-10 national mark by Shantel Thompson in the triple jump. In addition to the results by Sutej and Thompson, Arkansas picked up wins from Gwendolyn Flowers in the 100 meters, Regina George in the 400 meters, Kristen Gillespie in the 800 meters, Brittany Hyter in the 400-meter hurdles, Rebecca Gorden in the javelin and the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Yes, Again...: Tina Sutej extended her winning streak in the pole vault to 12 competitions with her school-record performance at the Arkansas Twilight. The Razorback standout cleared 149.5 (4.51m) to improve upon her own record which previously stood at 14-9. With the win, she extends her conference and national lead in the event. RECAP - Penn/Drake/Cardinal: The Razorbacks split their roster between the 117th Penn Relays in Philadelphia; the 102nd Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa; and the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. At Penn, Tina Sutej set a meet record with a winning pole vault clearance of 14-7.25 on her way to her 11th consecutive win. At Drake, the 4x400-meter relay team (Regina George, Shelise Williams, Gwendolyn Flowers and Whitney Jones) ran to a new meet and school record, crossing in a time of 3:28.63. At the Stanford meet, each runner posted a No. 1 or 2 career time, respectively, including a 2:04.31 by Stephanie Brown in the 800 meters. Grabbing Some Attention: For their respective performances at Drake and Penn Relays, the Razorbacks’ 4x400-meter relay-Regina George, Shelise Williams, Gwendolyn Flowers and Whitney Jones--was named a collective SEC Runner of the Week, while Tina Sutej was named SEC Field Athlete of the Week for the fifth time this season. Record Performance: Having qualified first for the finals of the 4x400-meter relay at Drake Relays, the quartet of Regina George, Shelise Williams, Gwendolyn Flowers and Whitney Jones broke the meet and school record with a 3:28.63 effort. The Drake Relays record, a 3:31.0 by Alabama in 1987, previ-
8
8
ARKANSASRAZORBACKS.COM