Jada Baylark, a sophomore, broke a tie for the 100M record with Veronica Campbell Brown with a run of 11.04 seconds in NCAA West Prelims in Sacramento.
Arkansas may have another Olympian in Tokyo in 2020. This is also the fastest collegiate time in the nation for 2018.
It is good to see the record back with an American citizen and on top of that she is a graduate of Little Rock Parkview. I admit I have trouble rooting for someone like VCB over an American, once they start competing for their own country. I know that may be just me.
I get that sentiment. However, VCB and Omar McLeod didn’t choose where they were born, but they did choose to be Hogs.
Now there are athletes who become American citizens, like Meb Keflezighi. One of the thrills of my life was to hear as I was struggling through the early miles of the 2014 Boston Marathon that Meb had won the race.
It would have been sweet if, while taking his victory lap in Rio with the Jamaican flag draped over his shoulders, Omar had put on a Hog hat. Seems like Mike Conley Sr. had some kind of Hog gear, maybe a baseball cap, after he won a silver medal in Los Angeles, or maybe eight years later after gold in Barcelona.
Of course I root for Meb, because his accomplishments add to the medal totals for USA. I rooted for VCB and Omar when they competed for Razorbacks because they added to the point totals for Razorbacks.
On the flip side, when announcers say VCB and Omar attended Arkansas, I love it.
I will always be in favor of a hog holding a record! It may be nice to see them be from this country but if they do come from overseas in my heart they are still hogs!
If they make the 2020 games even if they compete for another country I will pull for them as long as there not an American in the event unless that American is from LSU or Texas!
My point is exactly that except just last part of your post. I will pull for the American, even if they are from LSU or Texas.
I share your thoughts about LSU and Texas. The worst scenario is an American losing in International competition to a non-American who competed for LSU or Texas.
BTW, the record I mentioned is a University of Arkansas school record. So, a Hog will always hold that record.
Obviously a Hog will always hold the record, but I’m a bit mystified that it makes a difference that an American woman holds the record instead of VCB. A Hog is a Hog, no matter what it says on his/her birth certificate. I will always be grateful to the late Niall O’Shaughnessy, who took the chance to come over from Ireland to run for an inexperienced John McDonnell and laid the first brick in what became a track dynasty. Without him, Jonesboro Tech might still be the track school in this state, which it was for a time with Olympians like Thomas Hill and Earl Bell (and Thomas Hill Jr. won two NCs as a hoopster for Duke).