NASHVILLE – Little Rock's
Troy McKnight edged a four-time All-American by the closest possible margin – one-thousandth of a second – to win gold in the 60m dash while
Desmond Frazier smashed the school's shot put record by over 19 inches on the final day of the Vanderbilt Invitational.
McKnight ran 6.71 (6.706) in the 60m dash finals, clipping Florida State's Taylor Banks – a four-time All-American and eight-time All-ACC sprinter – by one-thousandth of a second to win his first-ever gold medal in the 60m dash. Banks, a junior that finished ninth in the 60m dash at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships, ran 6.71 (6.707) in Saturday's finals. McKnight's time matches the 6.71 ran by De-Von Bean in 1998 for the second-fastest mark in school history.
Cameron Jackson ran 6.77 to finish fourth in the finals.
Desmond Frazier crushed the school record in the shot put by over 19 inches with a throw of 54-9.5 (16.70m) to claim bronze. A sophomore, Frazier topped Jason Belt's throw of 53-1.75 (16.20m) from the 2012 Sun Belt Championships while topping his own personal best mark by well over 55 inches.
In the 60m hurdles,
Cogan DeRousselle sped past his previous personal best time of 8.27 (set last week at the Arkansas Invitational) by 0.16 seconds in the prelims, clocking 8.11 in the prelims. DeRousselle would post a time of 8.16 in the finals to finish fifth.
Tyler Moore, a freshman, ran 8.64 to place 18th while recording the seventh-fastest time in school history.
Andrew Payton and
Nicholas Newby inserted their names in the Little Rock record book in the mile Saturday. Payton posted a time of 4:09.91 to clock the third-fastest time in school history as he finished 17
th while Newby, who finished 25
th, ran 4:12.22 for the fourth-best time in school history.
Spencer Cardinal also ran the fourth-fastest time in school history, posting a time of 8:25.63 in the 3,000m to place 13
th.
The men's 4x400m relay registered the fifth-fastest time in school history as the quartet of Jaden Stevenson,
Frankie Grey,
Juan Garza and
Teylen Patterson combined to run 3:16.16, claiming bronze in the race and finishing just 0.2 seconds behind Georgia Tech.
On the women's side,
Gabby Ayiteyfio ran 9:15 in the 60m hurdles to register the fourth-fastest time in school history as she finished 18
th in the race.
In the women' shot put,
Janae Largins' mark of 43-5 (13.23m) ranks fifth in school history as she placed 20
th in the meet.
Little Rock returns to action next weekend when the Trojans return to Kansas for the Washburn Open.
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