UALR Track and Field Prepare for Stanford Invite, Central Arkansas Open

Courtesy University of Arkansas at Little Rock Athletics Department

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The UALR track and field teams return to action in a pair of locations this weekend (March 29-30). The Trojans compete at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. and the Central Arkansas Open in Conway, Ark. both Friday and Saturday.

At Stanford, competition begins each day at 11 a.m. with field events. On Friday, running events begin at 12:40 p.m. and continue to about 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning. On Saturday afternoon, running events begin at 11 a.m. and conclude at about 7:30 p.m. 

Track and field fans can watch the meet live on Flotrack.org. 

The UCA Open will take place in two locations. Friday night will be the distance events at Hendrix College. Saturday’s action will be at the Bill Stephens Track Complex on the UCA campus.

Saturday’s session at UCA begins with field events at 10 a.m. and running events at noon. 

Numerous athletes for UALR are seeded in the top three of their respective events at UCA. Senior Nathan Carr and freshman Alex Ebmeyer are 1-2 in the 800m with times of 151.24 and 154.75, respectively. Junior Shaun Koehn is the top seed in the 5000m with a time of 14:44.37 while senior Jason Belt holds the top spot in the discus with a mark of 173’4” (52.85m).

Rounding out the men’s seeds are Belt in the shot put (53’1.75”, 16.20m) and senior Taron Dunn in the triple jump (49’3”, 15.01m). Both are second in their respective events.

On the women’s side, junior Rebekah Grissom is seeded second in both the discus (143’8”, 43.80m) and javelin (131’2”, 40.00m). Senior Marissa DeLaPaz is seeded second in the 5000m with a time of 18:15.47. Classmate Mackenzie Bloom is seeded second in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 11:47.54. 

In their last competition at the Rhodes Open on March 16, Belt and Grissom combined for three individual wins. Belt earned first place in the men’s discus with a throw of 162’2” (49.44m), while Grissom picked up top honors in the women’s discus (143’8”, 43.80m) and javelin throw (116’1”, 35.38m). 

UALR picked up two runner-up finishes in a pair of men’s relay events. First, the Trojans took second in the 4x100m relay, as Dunn, freshmen Basil Rogers and Dylan Wood and sophomore Casey Lane clocked in at 42.27. UALR then placed second in the 4x800m relay. Junior Shaun Koehn, freshman Dalton Richey, Ebmeyer and Carr finished in 7:55.79. 

On the women’s side, DeLaPaz, freshman Emma Dahl, sophomore Tori Copeland and Bloom placed second in the 4x800m relay (10:02.91).

UALR returns to action in two weeks (April 13) when the men’s and women’s track and field teams travel to Oxford, Miss. to take part in the Ole Miss Invitational.