TROJANS TURN IT UP IN TENNESSEE

University of Arkansas at Little Rock track and field headed to Nashville, Tenn, to compete in the Indoor Vanderbilt Invitational, a meet that took place over the course of two days.

There, they faced off against some of the top schools in the nation, such as University of Tennessee, Auburn University, University of Mississippi, and University of Kentucky.

The Trojans quickly showed that they were not intimidated by their competition, setting the standard early on with the distance runners.

The distance medley relay team was 2.3 seconds short of the 2008 school record, claiming bronze and beating in-state rivals Arkansas State University by a whole 13 seconds.

Little Rock’s team continued to impress from there.

On day one alone, the Trojans had six marks that posted in the top five in school history, and two in the top ten.

The success from the first day didn’t seem to hinder the team from their goal; it seemed that they were just as determined and focused on day two.

Most notable were performances by Troy McKnight and Desmond Frazier.

McKnight took home gold in the 60m dash, beating out Florida State’s Taylor Banks – a four-time All-American and eight-time AllAtlantic Coast Conference sprinter – by one-thousandth of a second. McKnight’s time of 6.71 matches De-Von Bean’s time from 1998, the second fasted mark in school history.

Frazier smashed the school record in the shot put by over 19 inches to claim the bronze medal. The sophomore’s throw topped his own personal best by over 55 inches.

Day two concluded with seven additional Trojans writing their names in the Little Rock record books by recording times in the top five in school history.

Little Rock’s hard work and effort are clearly paying off, as seen by the 2022-23 US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Indoor Rankings.

The men’s track and field program was ranked No. 52 in the nation. This is the highest ranking for the Trojans in program history.

The Trojans are the highestranking of the four Ohio Valley Conference teams listed, ahead of No. 58 Southeast Missouri State University, No. 142 Tennessee State University, and No. 146 University of Tennessee at Martin.

Little Rock is concluding the indoor season on Feb 22 and Feb 23 at the OVC Championship taking place in Birmingham, Ala.