Louisiana State University (LSU) Sophomore Brianna Lyston gave fans a signal of what is to come from her this season with a personal best and collegiate leading 7.07 to win the women’s 60m at the Razorback Invitational at the Tyson Center in Fayetteville on Saturday.
The 19-year-old, who entered the meet with a personal best of 7.29 done last season, first produced an easy 7.14 in qualifying before returning to run her new personal best in the final to win comfortably ahead of Georgia’s Kaila Jackson (7.20) and Florida’s Grace Stark (7.21).
Lyston’s time is the third-fastest in the world this year, fourth-fastest in collegiate history and equals the LSU school record done back in 2018 by Aleia Hobbs.
The men's equivalent saw USC's Travis Williams run 6.63 for third behind LSU's Myles Thomas (6.62) and USC's JC Stevenson (6.61).
Jamaican World Championship 4x400m relay medallist Stacey Ann Williams ran 51.86 to win the women’s open 400m ahead of Americans Kendall Ellis (52.12) and Bailey Lear (52.49). World Championships 400m hurdles finalist Andrenette Knight ran 52.53 for fifth.
Arkansas Junior and reigning Jamaican National champion Nickisha Pryce ran 51.58 for third in the college women’s 400m behind schoolmate Amber Anning (50.56) and Georgia’s Aaliyah Butler (51.34).
Pryce was a semi-finalist in the 400m at the World Championships in Budapest last August.
Florida Senior Jevaughn Powell ran 46.28 for third in the college men’s 400m behind USC’s William Jones (45.24) and Texas A&M’s Auhmad Robinson (46.15).
2023 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor champion and World Championship 100m hurdles finalist Ackera Nugent ran 7.94 for second in the women’s open 60m hurdles won by the USA’s Tia Jones in 7.85. Christina Clemons ran 7.95 for third.
Jamaica’s Phillip Lemonious, who won the NCAA Outdoor title competing for the University of Arkansas last season, ran 7.68 for third in the men’s 60m hurdles. Interestingly, the top two finishers in the race, Texas A&M’s Connor Schulman and Jaqualon Scott, also ran 7.68. Their times when rounded up to the thousandths were 7.672, 7.673 and 7.675.
St. Vincent's Shafiqua Maloney ran 2:02.29 to take top spot in the women's 800m ahead of Sanu Jallow of Arkansas (2:02.60) and Gabija Galvydyte (2:02.82).
In the field, Arkansas high jumper Romaine Beckford, the defending NCAA Indoor and Outdoor champion, improved his indoor career best to 2.27m with his victory on Friday evening.
The winning height moves Beckford to No. 4 on the UA all-time list and No. 3 on the Jamaican all-time indoor list with the equal No. 4 performance.
Having won the competition, Beckford opted for the Olympic standard of 2.33m as his next height and had three attempts with his last try coming closest to clearing.
Mississippi State’s Sherman Hawkins and USC’s Elias Gerald both cleared 2.17m for second and third, respectively.
Elsewhere in the field, Jamaican Oklahoma Junior Nikaoli Williams produced 7.86m for second in the men’s long jump behind Florida’s Malcolm Clemons (8.06m). Clemons’ teammate Caleb Foster jumped 7.68m for third.