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Gymbacks Set SEC Attendance Record on Senior Night; Fall to Sooners

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Gymbacks Set SEC Attendance Record on Senior Night; Fall to Sooners


It was a historic night at Bud Walton Arena on Friday as the No. 8 Gymbacks went toe-to-toe with the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners. While Arkansas fell to Oklahoma 197.925-197.500, there were 15,512 fans in attendance, a new Arkansas and SEC gymnastics attendance record.

Despite the loss, Arkansas’ score of 197.500 was its best at home this season, propelled by the energy of the crowd in the building. The previous SEC gymnastics attendance record, 15,162, was set by Alabama and took 20 years to break.

The Gymbacks closed out the meet with a season-high 49.650 on floor, matching the third-best floor score in program history and besting the Sooners’ 49.375 on the event.

Both Joscelyn Roberson and Morgan Price had record nights, as each matched the program high of 9.975 on floor and bars, respectively. Roberson became the second-ever Gymback to score 9.975 on floor with the mark, along with teammate Frankie Price. Morgan is now the only Arkansas gymnast to score 9.975 on bars two times.

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Roberson and Morgan Price’s scores were good for the event titles, and Arkansas also had four more top three finishes on the night: Cami Weaver tied for second on vault with a 9.925, Leah Smith earned shares of second on floor (9.950) and third on bars (9.900) and Allison Cucci tied for second on floor (9.950) and third on beam (9.900).

Vault

Weaver got things started out strong on vault with a big Yurchenko full that score 9.925, including a perfect mark of 9.950 for the vault from one judge. Smith went next and got a 9.850, and Cucci matched it midway through the lineup. Klein scored 9.800 for her Yurchenko 1.5 up fourth. After Lauren Williams scored a 9.750 in the five spot, Morgan Price anchored the rotation with a 9.850 for a total vault score of 49.275.

Bars

Roberson led off bars with a 9.825 and Klein followed with a 9.800 up second. Smith started the sticks midway through the lineup and she scored 9.900 to keep the momentum up. Avery King went 9.850 in fourth, and Avalon Campbell dialed up a 9.800 in the fifth spot. Morgan Price ended the lineup with a bang as she earned a 9.975 for the second time this season, putting a bow on a 49.350 bars score.

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Beam

Priscilla Park and Weaver earned 9.850s on beam in the front half of the lineup, and Klein scored a 9.800. Cucci went up and got a 9.900 in fourth, delivering a solid routine with stuck dismount. Morgan Price then earned a 9.825 up fifth, and Roberson scored 9.775 as the anchor. The Gymbacks concluded beam with a 49.225.

Floor

Arkansas’ last floor party of the season at Bud Walton Arena did not disappoint, and Klein got it going in a big way with a season high 9.900 first. Cucci went second and earned a new career high of 9.950, and Smith matched it to keep the energy up in a big way for Arkansas. Frankie Price scored 9.775 in the fourth position, and Williams got a 9.875 in fifth. Needing a bit of juice to end the rotation, Roberson put down her best floor score of the season and received a 10 from one judge, notching her second-ever 9.975 on the event to push the Gymbacks’ floor total to a monster 49.650.

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Arkansas closes out the regular season on the road on Friday, March 13 at No. 2 LSU. The action is set for 7:30 p.m. in Baton Rouge and the meet will be streamed live on SEC Network+.

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Visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com for the latest information on all things Arkansas Gymnastics. You can also find the Razorbacks on social media by liking us on Facebook (Arkansas Razorback Gymnastics) and following us on Twitter and Instagram (@RazorbackGym).



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Arkansas lithium boom hits milestone with first buyer; 8,000 tonne-a-year deal signed

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Arkansas lithium boom hits milestone with first buyer; 8,000 tonne-a-year deal signed


A major milestone has been reached in Arkansas’ highly anticipated lithium boom—its first customers.

Smackover Lithium has secured the first binding offtake agreement with a commercial client for lithium extracted in Arkansas.

“So this lithium from Arkansas will find its way into global markets, ex China,” said Jesse Edmondson, Standard Lithium’s director of government relations.

Commodity trading firm Trafigura Trading has just signed a 10-year agreement to buy 8,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year from Smackover Lithium’s South West Arkansas Project, a joint venture between Standard Lithium and Equinor, a Norwegian company.

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For context, the U.S. as a whole only produces about 5,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium a year.

“The SWA project, once in full production, will produce 22,500 tonnes per year,” Edmondson said. “So this 8,000-tonne-per-year agreement is significant, right? That’s over a third of our annual offtake.”

Last year, Standard Lithium received a $225 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to advance lithium extraction from the Smackover Formation, a briny aquifer beneath southern Arkansas that many hail as what could be America’s best domestic source of the critical mineral.

Beating companies like Chevron and Exxon to the punch, Standard Lithium pioneered direct lithium extraction and since 2020 has operated a demo plant in El Dorado. The company is building a larger facility in Lafayette County that is set to begin operation in 2028.

“We’ve got the only proven technology that works in the Smackover that’s been done through our commercial demonstration plant in El Dorado since May of 2020. And really that has been the proving ground which has unlocked a lot of the federal opportunities for us. So we’re the largest recipient of a DOE grant in the critical mineral space in this hemisphere,” Edmondson told KATV.

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“So [we’re] really excited to bring lithium production to the state of Arkansas and really back to the United States. The U.S. used to be a leader in lithium production 40, 50 years ago. So it’s time to reclaim that status,” he said.

The market price of a tonne of battery-grade lithium is volatile, but has recently ranged between $10,000 to $12,000, so the value of what Standard Lithium alone is expected to produce could exceed a quarter of a billion dollars annually.

That’s not counting what Exxon, Chevron, and other companies may produce once they get up and running.



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Arkansas needs balanced strategy to address educator concerns about AI

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Arkansas needs balanced strategy to address educator concerns about AI


COMMENTARY: While AI can offer transformative support for students who need it, it also risks eroding the foundational skills we are trying to help them acquire. Arkansas needs a balanced strategy that prioritizes accessibility without sacrificing rigor.



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Congressional subcommittee to hold hearing in Little Rock on ‘failures’ of local housing authority | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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Congressional subcommittee to hold hearing in Little Rock on ‘failures’ of local housing authority | Arkansas Democrat Gazette


Joseph Flaherty

jflaherty@adgnewsroom.com

Joseph Flaherty covers the city of Little Rock for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A graduate of Middlebury College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, he has worked for the newspaper since 2020.

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