Over 15 Cats bring home top-10 finishes
The Kentucky track and field team wrapped up a successful weekend Sunday at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif., and the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational in Baton Rouge, La. The Cats registered over 15 top-10 finishes in the two meets, highlighted by first-place performances from Jeff Chakouian in the shot put and Andy Fryman in the discus throw.
Chakouian’s mark of 58-05.25 led the pack at LSU, also qualifying him for NCAA Regional competition in his first meet of the outdoor season. Fryman also improved on his regional qualifying mark with a third-place toss of 57-08.50. Tony Tzouanakis rounded out UK in the field with a ninth-place throw of 52-10.25. Fryman claimed his first title at Kentucky with his regional and season-best mark of 175-01.00 in the discus.
The Cats also excelled Sunday at the Mt. Sac Relays, where UK represented themselves well in the 800-meter run, as Beth Heimann took second on the women’s side and UK held three of the top 10 and five of the top 20 spots on the men’s side. Heimann qualified for regionals and came in ahead of 52 competitors during her season-best performance of 2:07.83. Nick Devenport led the men’s team with a third-place regional-qualifying finish of 1:50.08, while Paul Ciurlys finished one spot behind in fourth in a time of 150.28. Jean Balan came in eighth in the race, while David Freeman and Kris Landers finished in 14th and 19th-places, respectively. Hunter Spencer improved his season-best time in the 1,500 meters by more than seven seconds in the event, finishing ninth in 3:43.09.
The women’s squad also fared well in the field events at LSU, as Ildiko Varga led UK with a second-place toss of 169-08.00 in the discus. Molly Lonergan and Gennessa Guzman posted season-best marks in the event, landing in third and fifth places, while Lonergan made a regional qualifying toss with her throw of 164-07.00. Guzman also improved her regional mark in the hammer throw by six feet with her third-place finish of 175-03.00.
Olubusola Adeagbo turned in another top-five finish at LSU, crossing the finish line fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 1:00.88. Jackie Gordon broke a personal best in the 800 meters with her performance of 2:15.23. The women’s 4 x 400-meter relay were also impressive with their second-place season-best time of 3:43.44.
The Cats return to action nest weekend at the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Penn.
