Ryan Schoppe Brings Home Baton For Oklahoma State As Cowboys, Huskies Both Go Three Seconds Faster Than World Indoor DMR Best

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Oklahoma State edged ahead of Washington in the race to a new world best in the men's indoor distance medley relay Friday at the Arkansas Qualifier at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville. 

The Cowboys' Ryan Schoppe outran Washington's Kieran Lumb on the 1,600-meter anchor leg as both school dipped three seconds under Oregon's world best 9:19.42 from the 2021 Razorback Invitational at the same venue. 

Schoppe split 3:52.84, taking the baton after impressive splits for Fouad Messaoudi (2:49.49 1,200 meters), Dejuana McArthur (46.82 400 meters) and Hafez Mahadi (1:47.27 800 meters). 

The total amounted to 9:16.45 and a performance that was necessary to hold off the Huskies, who ran 9:16.65 for the second-fastest DMR in history. 

Washington, which nearly matched its women's recent record-setting DMR performance, was faster on the first two legs. Joe Waskom ran 2:49.41, Daniel Gaik split 46.31 for 400 and Cass Elliott was 1:47.72. 

Lumb got the baton with a slight lead and ran 3:53.46 to finish a close second. 

Host Arkansas was third in 9:22.13 to become the No. 5 program all-time, while Virginia was fourth in 9:23.71 to move to No. 7. The top 15 men's college DMR performances ever achieved on a 200-meter banked track have all been run at Randal Tyson Track Center, including five Friday.

The women's DMR was also fast, as multiple teams went under 10:50 for the first time. 

For the first time multiple teams broke the 10:50 threshold in the same race at the women’s DMR at the Arkansas Qualifier.

Oregon (10:49.07) ran the third-fastest time in collegiate history behind Washington's recent record of 10:46.62 and the Ducks' 10:48.77 from 2017. Arkansas (10:49.14) and BYU (10:49.24) were next, with Oklahoma State following in fourth (10:50.65).

Izzy Thornton-Bott of Oregon (4:30.68) held off the Razorbacks’ Lauren Gregory (4:30.24) on the anchor leg.