In January, Arkansas State’s pentathlon superstar Camryn Newton-Smith set a blistering 4356 point total at the Texas Tech )pen, posting what would become the second best performance of the year behind Jadin O’Brien of Notre Dame (4377, ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships).

Newton-Smith’s winning performance at Texas Tech Newton-Smith shattered the Arkansas State record by 285 points, while improving the conference mark by 153 points. A-State track & field has not seen this kind of domination since the great Sharika Nelvis won the NCAA Championship in the 60m Hurdles in 2014.

This isn’t Newton-Smith’s first trip to the NCAA Championships. The Aussie was invited in 2020 before it was canceled due to COVID-19. “The Championship being canceled was crushing and not just for me. For my coaches and myself, all of our hard work of qualifying for nationals was pretty much all ripped away,” said Newton-Smith in an interview from later that year. “Handling that time was hard. It didn’t seem real and when it finally sunk in I really just tried to not let it affect me and focus on the fact that there was nothing I could do about it.”

The pandemic is over(ish), and Camryn Newton-Smith is back at NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships held this year in Albuquerque NM on March 10-11. She has a real shot had delivering A-State’s first track & field NCAA Championship medal since Red Wolves legend Jaylon Bacon brought the 60M bronze to Jonesboro in 2017.

PENTATHLON SCHEDULE (March 10, TIME IN CT)
11:20 a.m. – 60-meter Hurdles
12:30 p.m. – High Jump
2:30 p.m. – Shot Put
3:30 p.m. – Long Jump
4:40 p.m. – 800 Meters

The top 16 athletes in each event advance to the championships. Among those expected to challenge Newton Smith: Jadin O’Brien (Notre Dame), Annika Williams (Kentucky), Charity Griffith (Ball State) and Lexie Carter (Colorado State).

PHOTO CREDIT: A-State Athletics, edit mine