Samuels Shines in McDonnell Meet at Arkansas

Better weather couldn't have been asked for and Arkansas head coach John McDonnell felt the same way about his athletes' performances. Arkansas track and field secured a slew of regional-qualifying marks on their home turf at Saturday's John McDonnell Invitational.

"We had great competition, so I couldn't be more pleased with the meet," McDonnell said. "The weather was just perfect. I couldn't ask for anything better. The wind was calm throughout the whole day and that is what we like to have for outdoor meets."

Arkansas excelled in all aspects of track and field on Saturday. A beautiful day in Fayetteville and solid competition from around the country only helped the Razorbacks to the success they found.

"We had a really good meet," McDonnell said. "We qualified a lot of people for the regional championships. In the 1,500 meters we qualified three but I think we would have had one more but one of our guys got tripped and almost knocked out two of our other guys."

No one loves competing at the John McDonnell Invitational more than J-Mee Samuels. For the past two years, Samuels has thrived on his home track with great competition at his side.

"This meet seems to be my starting point every year," Samuels said. "I opened the season up with the 200 meters last year and that went really well. Even though I was pretty tired before the 200 meters today, I still did pretty well to go 20.5. As far as the 100 meters, that is one of the best races I have run these past two years. I still have a lot to work on but training is going really well so hopefully I will keep setting PR's.

Saturday was no different for the junior from Winston-Salem, N.C. Running in three events, track fans were treated to three great races from Samuels.

"I knew he was ready to run," Arkansas sprints coach Kyle White said. "I have been holding him back in practice. He's so fresh and so ready but we were wanting to peak here because the weather is so unpredictable at Penn and it's just a relay meet. This was it; this is the time to go. We knew that he needed to run all three races today."

Samuels started the day with the 100-meter dash where he clocked a 2.3 wind-aided time of 10.12. His clocking, a better regional-qualifying mark, ranks No. 3 in the nation, No. 2 in the SEC and is the second-fastest wind-aided time in school history. Samuels also set a collegiate personal best in the 100 meters.

"He felt tired in the 200 meters and I explained to him that is what happens when you run 10.13 with a sub-4.0 wind," White said. "It's going to take a lot out of you. We got into the relay and I told him to take it easy but he's a competitor and he got the baton and decided to run some people down."