Friday when he placed second in the Tyson invitational at his school, Arkansas University.

Wellman, who only did three jumps and off a shortened approach of 14 strides instead of the usual 20 strides, had a best leap of 16.95 metres (55 feet, eight inches). In his second jump he had a questionable foul in his leap of 57 feet, two inches which would have won the meet. The winning jump was 17.02 metres (55 feet, 11 inches).

Last year's Athlete of the Year is a senior at Arkansas University.