Wildcats Post Early Elite Marks at Baldy Castillo Meet

TEMPE, Ariz. – Sarah Blake showed off some serious offseason improvement with her outdoor track and field season-opening javelin throw at the Baldy Castillo Invitational on Friday at Arizona State’s Sun Angel Stadium.  

She placed fourth with a mark that broke her modern school record by more than seven feet: 171-feet, 4.25 inches/52.23 meters. That mark is significant because she qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary Championships and placed 17th at NCAAs with lesser marks last season as a freshman.

Marie-Josée Ebwea-Bile also got out to a nice outdoor start. She won the triple jump with a mark of 42’9.75”/13.05m (+0.0). The mark was her outdoor best at UK, and moved her to No. 2 on UK all-time performers’ list.

Kiah Seymour placed fourth in a speed work 200m running 23.74. Her volunteer assistant coaches Kori Carter and Leah Nugent went 1-2 in that race as all three showed some strong foot speed as they all will look forward to 400m hurdles debuts later this outdoor season. 

Kendall Muhammad ran a PR 3:47.91 to place  fifth in the 1,500m just ahead of teammate Jacob Thomson, who received the same time. Those times rank No. 7 nationally early this outdoor season. Thomson ran as fast as 3:44 last year.

Logan Bryer had a solid hammer throw opener coming within a few centimeters of his PR to place third with a mark 204’3”/62.26m.

Michelle McKinney, Katy Kunc and Jill Weston all posted significant PRs in the 1,500m. McKinney was runner-up with a time about 18 seconds better than her prior best: 4:25.85. Kunc placed third in 4:25.95 – six seconds ahead of her prior PR, and Weston was ninth overall, seven seconds faster than her previous best.

UK is spending spring break at the Castillo Invitational for the second year in a row.

This year’s field is made up of UK, the host school, Air Force, Iowa, Loyola (Ill.), Ohio State, Oklahoma, North Dakota State, South Dakota, Texas A&M, Minnesota (M) and Utah (W).

 

The meet continues Saturday at 1:30 p.m. with the discus throw, and the men’s 110-meter hurdles kick-off at 5 p.m. 

A live stream will feature the running events on Saturday beginning at 5 p.m.

3. Logan Bryer: 204’3”/62.26m

5. David Cline: 202’1”/61.06m

13. Brandi Walker: 180’7.25”/55.05m

22. Nicole Fautsch: 148’3.50”/45.20m

4. Sarah Blake: 171’4.25”/52.23m (more than a seven-foot PR, modern school record)

1. Marie-Josée Ebwea-Bile: 42’9.75”/13.05m (+0.0) (her outdoor best at UK, No. 2 on UK all-time performers’ list) 

8. Craig Green: 21.22 (+0.4)

16. Kenshard Hamilton: 21.55 (+0.3)

22. Victor Ini-Oluwa Oye: 21.68 (Nwi)

24. Fred Dorsey: 21.75 (+0.4)

42. Daniel Roberts: 23.39 (+0.4)

48. Caleb Wilt: 22.69 (+0.0)

49. Mohammed Abubakar: 23.33 (+0.3)

4. Kiah Seymour: 23.74 (-0.2)

6. Precious Hitchcock: 23.84 (-0.2)

7. Kayelle Clarke: 23.88 (-0.2)

8. Faith Ross: 24.18 (-0.2) 

10. William Walker: 53.64

3. Gabe Harm: 5:59.18

3. Caroline McCaslin: 6:64.78

5. Amy Hansen: 7:03.51

5. Kendall Muhammad: 3:47.91 PR

6. Jacob Thomson: 3:47.91

7. Benjamin Young: 3:47.92

9. Brennan Fields: 3:50.05

37. Lou Styles: 4:02.43

40. Mick Iacofano: 4:05.77

2. Michelle McKinney: 4:25.85 (18-second PR)

3. Katy Kunc: 4:25.95 (six-second PR)

9. Jill Weston: 4:35.26 (seven-second PR)

17. Avery Bussjager: 4:39.51

32. Caitlin Shepard: 4:53.00

The most up-to-date coverage of the UK track and field program is available via @KentuckyTrack handles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.