TORUŃ, POLAND – Arkansas alums collected six medals on the final day of the World Indoor Championships, four medals in the 4 x 400m relay along with individual medals in the 1,500m and pole vault.

Rosey Effiong and Paris Peoples ran the second and third legs of the United States 4 x 400m relay that won the race in 3:25.81. It’s the sixth time for the Americans to claim World Indoor gold in the event.

Bailey Lear ran the opening leg in 51.47. Effiong split 50.83 as she moved USA from third to first on her carry. Peoples maintained the lead with a 52.02 carry. Then Shamier Little closed out the victory with a 51.49 anchor leg.

Finishing behind the Americans were the Netherlands (3:26.00) and Spain (3:26.04) with host Poland (3:26.17) fourth.

Arkansas’ winning time of 3:23.63 to win the NCAA Indoor title a week ago remains the world-leading time for 2026 and would better the World Indoor meet record of 3:23.85 set by USA in 2018.

Effiong produced the second fastest split in the final as her 50.83 only trailed the anchor leg of 50.10 generated by Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, who won the 800m in a championship record of 1:55.30 on the same day. The British placed fifth in 3:28.09.

In the men’s 4 x 400m relay, the United States broke the championship record with a 3:01.52 victory. That bettered the previous mark of 3:01.77 set by Poland in 2018. It’s the 12th World Indoor relay title for the American men.

TJ Tomlyanovich ran the anchor leg for USA during the prelims, splitting 45.98 as the Americans ran 3:04.85 for third place in their heat, advancing to the final on time.

Tyrice Taylor ran third leg for Jamaica in the final, splitting 46.11 as they earned a bronze medal with a time of 3:05.99. In the prelims, Taylor ran second leg (46.14) as the Jamaicans advanced on time with a 3:05.68.

For the second consecutive World Indoor Championships, Tina Šutej earned a silver medals in the pole vault. She cleared 15-9 (4.80) to equal her season’s best and placed second to a 15-11 (4.85) clearance by Molly Caudrey of Great Britain. Three vaulters tied for bronze at 15-5 (4.70).

“Gosh, it’s my fourth medal from World Championships but I still have not got the gold one,” stated the 37-year-old Šutej, who collected indoor bronze in 2022 and outdoor bronze in 2025. “Today, I was so close to upgrading my collection. All season I have had jumps and great feelings. I came to Toruń like a leader but something went wrong at 4.85m. Maybe we had been waiting too long but something was broken. The longer the competition goes, the more troubles I have.

“It’s not easy for me to compete with girls who are younger 10 or 15 years than me but I’m proud I’m still very competitive. Let’s see what happens in the summer. Everyone says about my age. I know that I’m the oldest in the field but I feel good, I jump high and I’m going to continue at this level as long as I enjoy the competitions. I want to keep going and get my mark closer to five meters.”

Nikki Hiltz set a career best of 3:59.68 in finishing with a bronze medal in the 1,500m. The time ranks No. 3 on the U.S. all-time list. The previous best by Hiltz in the 1,500m was 4:02.32 to claim silver at the 2024 World Indoor.

Georgia Hunter Bell established a world-leading time of 3:58.53 for the victory while Australia’s Jessica Hull produced an Area record of 3:59.45 as the runner-up. Agathe Guillemot of France (3:59.71) was edged out of a medal by Hiltz in the final step to the finish line.

“It was fast,” noted Hiltz, who moved from fifth to third over the final lap (29.96 seconds). “I’ve been in a lot of tactical races this season and never broken four minutes so this was different for me. Sometimes you just have to trust your instincts. I think I was in fourth place until the very last step. It just shows you always have to run to the line. You never know what can happen.”

Representing Jamaica in the long jump, Nia Robinson placed fifth with a mark of 22-1.75 (6.75), which left her two inches from the bronze medal distance. It’s the highest finish for an Arkansas alum in the women’s long jump at a World Championship meet. Robinson improved her career best to 22-4.5 (6.82) this indoor season.

In the men’s long jump, Carey McLeod placed ninth with a leap of 26-2.25 (7.98) and was the second Jamaican in the field behind Tajay Gayle, who placed seventh at 26-7.75 (8.12).

The fact that Mikki Young had to consult books and online sources to learn what a quail looks like underscores the importance of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s quail habitat conservation stamp.

Young, 20, of Fayetteville got it right. The Game and Fish Commission chose her painting of a northern bobwhite quail to grace its 2026 Quail Conservation Stamp.

The commission created the Quail Conservation Stamp in 2019 to promote awareness for upland bird habitat. The northern bobwhite quail, once ubiquitous in Arkansas, symbolizes the state’s suite of ground nesting birds. Its distinctive, two-note “bob-WHITE” song was once common throughout the South. The bobwhite is also a gamebird noted for its sudden flush from cover and its thunderous flight. It is delicious to eat.

Young, a junior at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, studies in the university’s painting program. She said that a friend saw a post on Facebook about the Game and Fish Commission seeking entries for the quail stamp competition.

“She said, ‘You might be interested in this,’ and she was right,” Young said. “I have been looking into conservation lately, especially in terms of supporting our national parks. Conservation is a really important issue that everyone should be aware of. It’s nice to contribute to that program in, I don’t want to say a small way. It took a lot of work to do this painting, It’s nice to see my work is going into something so meaningful.”

Young said that she has never seen a quail. She combed the internet and library books for photos of bobwhites.

“I think that speaks to how much their numbers have declined over the years,” Young said. “At one time I had 50 tabs on my computer open with pictures of quail. I looked at them from every angle to get their markings right.”

Contest rules require the image to be on a 13-18 inch format. Bobwhite quail are obviously the focal point, but the rules require other elements in the frame, as well.

“The other half of that is the environment they are in because the program focuses heavily on habitat conservation,” Young said. “Portraying birds in an area like you would see in Arkansas is important.”

For that, Young researched the composition of upland bird habitat in Arkansas, which led her to closeup images of native plants.

Finally, the painting had to be aesthetically appealing. Hearing a bobwhite quail really sets a mood. Young wanted her painting to capture the power that such a small bird wields.

“I wanted to have serene quality with sunset with pretty colors,” Young said. “I thought it would complement the birds, too.”

Young’s image depicts a male and female bobwhite in low light hours stepping through low grass at what appears to be a meadow’s edge. The female, with her buff face patches, faces right and is jammed a little too close to the edge of the frame. The male quail, identifiable by its white face patches, relieves that tension by looking over its shoulder and drawing the eye to left of center. He is also subtly framed between a few wisps of taller grass. He faces the sunrise, represented by a bright splash of gold to the left. We want to believe that the light is a sunrise, representing optimism for the bobwhite’s future.

Interestingly, muted light shadows the quails’ bodies. That is appropriate as the sun is behind them. It illuminates their edges, creating ascending, curvy shafts of light that give the birds a logo-like quality. This sidesteps the lack of “catch light” in the eyes, which is essential to wildlife photography.

Also, instead of highlighting the birds, the muted light seems to highlight the camouflage qualities of their plumage. That is one of a quail’s remarkable characteristics. Up close, a quail feather is a mortar burst of intricacy, but it is invisible against a natural background. This is conspicuous with the hen quail, which creates a dark hole to the right that directs a downward path for the light to the left.

Young’s award for her winning submission was $2,500.

“My rent money,” Young quipped.

All that’s left is to see a live specimen of the species Young memorialized.

“I would love to go and visit where they have numbers, “Young said. “I would love to go and see them! It would be kind of weird to see something in real life that I’ve been looking at (in photos) for so long.”

Dustin Staggs

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Dustin Staggs is a features writer for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, where he covers arts, entertainment and community stories that showcase the vibrant culture of Northwest Arkansas. Dustin, a University of Arkansas graduate, joined the Democrat-Gazette features team in July 2024. During his time at the university, Dustin’s magazine story was named a Story of the Year finalist in the “In-Depth News Story” category by the Associated Collegiate Press, making him the only Arkansas college student to earn this recognition that year. At the Democrat-Gazette, Dustin has cultivated strong connections within the local arts and entertainment community and finds joy in spotlighting the creative talents and inspiring stories of the region.