What a finish! Arkansas beats Alabama by centimeters to capture SEC title

The Arkansas men’s track team had never run a 4×400 relay as fast it did on the weekend and the timing could not have been better.

The Razorbacks won the SEC Outdoor Championships for the fourth straight year, as the relay locked in the win. Arkansas beat runner-up Alabama by six points, all necessary from the final race, 110-104.

It’s the second time Arkansas has won four straight outdoor titles. Previously the Hogs captured the 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 ones. The trophy also secured an SEC Triple Crown for the Razorbacks, the 18th such in school history. The crown is awarded when a team wins the cross country, indoor and outdoor titles all in the same school year.

Arkansas ran the final relay in 2:59.03, the fastest time in the world this year and are sixth in the history of college track-and-field with the time. It barely happened, though, as Arkansas anchor leg James Benson’s lean over the finish line edegd Alabama by .03 seconds.

In fact, Arkansas won the whole meet at the end. The triple jump, 5,000-meter run and the relay notched 33 of the Razorbacks’ points.

Arkansas will return to Fayetteville for the NCAA West Regionals at the end of the month. John McDonnell Field will host from May 22-25.

Story originally appeared on Razorbacks Wire