Nate Allen

EUGENE, Oregon – The lone final on the first day of the NCAA Championships held at Hayward Field produced a career best time for Gilbert Boit in the 10,000m while Phillip Lemonious was the only Razorback to reach a final from the semifinal rounds on Wednesday.

Boit finished 13th with a clocking of 28:09.11 to better his previous best of 28:25.15 from 2019. The improved time moves Boit from No. 6 to No. 4 on the UA all-time list. Boit only trails the trio of Shawn Forrest (27:52.10), Josphat Boit (28:07.27), and Peter Kosgei (28:08.97).

A pair of runners Boit moved ahead of on the list include Daniel Lincoln (28:20.20) and Alistair Cragg (28:20.29).

Lemonious ran a career best of 13.43 (0.2 wind) amid the rain during the semifinal of the 110m hurdles. Racing in the same semifinal heat was teammate Carl Elliott, III, who clocked 13.84 for fifth and end up 15th overall.

Lemonious becomes the first Razorback to reach the final of the 110m hurdles since Omar McLeod claimed the 2015 title. Lemonious trimmed his previous best of 13.44 established in the NCAA West Preliminary and remains No. 3 on the UA all-time list behind McLeod (12.97) and Kevin White (13.41). 

The Razorback 4x100 relay posted a time of 39.47 seconds with a foursome of Josh Oglesby, Kris Hari, Roman Turner, and Jalen Brown. Arkansas finished fifth in the semifinal heat and were 13th overall.

In the 4x400, Arkansas clocked 3:08.15 to place sixth in the heat and 16th overall. The Razorback foursome included Brown, Rhayko Schwartz, Jeremy Farr, and James Milholen.

Through the first day of the decathlon, Markus Ballengee and David Spejcher are currently in 10th and 13th place with scores of 3,949 and 3,903, respectively.

Ballengee’s total came from marks of 11.04 (852) to equal his PR in the 100m, 21-8 ¼ (6.61) in the long jump for 723 points, a shot put toss of 49-8 ¼ (15.14) for 798 points, a high jump of 6-4 ¾ (1.95) for 758. He capped the first day with a 49.93 in the 400m for 818 points.

Specjher opened with an 11.05 (850), then long jumped 22-7 ¼w (6.89) for 788, hit 47-7 ¾ (14.52) in the shot put for 760 points, and high jumped 6-1 ¼ (1.86) to add 679. A time of 49.75 in the 400 netted 826 more points.

The decathlon continues at 9:30 a.m. (11:30 CT) on Thursday while the final for Lemonious will be held on Friday along with the 5,000m final which includes Amon Kemboi.