UK Track & Field Fourth Entering Final Day of SECs

By Jacob Most 

May 16, 2015 – 


STARKVILLE, Miss. — Rebecca Famurewa earned her second Southeastern Conference Silver Medal in as many days, picking up eight more points for the sixth-ranked Kentucky women’s track and field team — this time in the discus — on Friday at the SEC Championships.

Famurewa and teammate Madison Jacobs turned in a Silver-Bronze finish as each produced personal-record throws.

Famurewa has now earned 16 points in this meet.

Three Wildcats combined to score 17 points in the discus as Adrianna Brown placed sixth to go along with Famurewa and Jacobs’ two-three finish.

Famurewa’s throw of 187-feet, five inches/57.13 meters was a one-inch PR, and moved her within Ashley Muffet’s school-record. The mark also ranks second in the NCAA East Region this season.

Jacobs also turned in a PR of 183’10″/56.03 to earn a second SEC discus medal, as she claimed Silver last season as a freshman.

Bradley Szypka was Kentucky’s other medalist on Saturday. The senior claimed bronze in the shot put with a throw of 63’9″/19.44m.

The team race

Both Kentucky’s men’s and women’s teams sit in fourth place entering the final day of the meet.

The men have 27 points with seven of 21 events scored. Florida leads on 50 points, Georgia has 47 and Arkansas has 36.

The UK women are in fourth with 32 points with eight of 21 events complete. Arkansas leads on 58.5, Georgia is second on 46, while Texas A&M has 37.

Athletes earn points for their teams at the SEC Championships based on top-8 finishes on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

Kentucky’s Friday capsule

Scorers

Timothy Duckworth, competing in his first collegiate decathlon earned four points with a fifth-place finish. His 10-event total of 7156 set a new school-record.

Sha’Keela Saunders long jumped to her outdoor season-best with a mark of 21’4.75″/ 6.52m. Saunders placed fifth and Kenyattia Hackworth was sixth (21’3.25″/6.48m) as UK scored seven points total in the event. The SEC women’s long jump was won by Alabama’s Quanesha Burks (22’5.25″/6.84m) who tied reigning Olympic Champion Brittney Reese’s record. The event was one of the deepest conference-championship long jumps in history as the winner jumped to the ninth-best collegiate mark ever and six women jumped better than 21 feet. Additionally, five of the top six finishers’ marks rank inside the NCAA top-eight this season.

Nathan Donnellon scored three points in the decathlon with a PR score 7112.

Mackay Wilson picked up three points in the steeplechase, finishing sixth in 9:10.93. James Brown was eighth in 9:14.62 to earn a point.

Nikolas Huffman threw an outdoor season best to earn a point in the shot put with a mark of 55’11″/ 17.04m.

Terence Boyd earned a point in the long jump with a PR 24’7″/7.49m. Fred Dorsey placed ninth, also with a PR 24’1.5″/7.35m.

Qualifiers

Kentucky qualified 10 athletes into running-event finals on Friday, giving the Wildcats 16 total finalists.

Keffri Neal, the defending SEC Champion, qualified into the 1,500m final automatically with a time of 3:46.05, and he will be joined in that race by teammates Lou Styles & Robert Sandlin. The duo also booked spots automatically with times of 3:44.99 and 3:45.15 to join Neal.

Nick Anderson advanced into the SEC 110m hurdles final with a windy PR time of 13.68 (+3.6), which was the fifth fastest.

Jacklyn Howell bettered her UK freshman record with a time of 13.07, which was the third fastest qualifier. Defending champion Kendra Harrison also qualified with a time of 13.22, which won her heat.

Morganne Phillips and Jasmine Mitchell will run in the 400m final after clocking respective qualifying times of 53.02 and 53.62 (third and sixth).

Dezerea Bryant was the top qualifier into the 100m final with a time of 11.23 (+2.5), while Dominique Booker ran a PR of 11.32 to also qualify.

A year ago

The UK women finished in fourth place in the final team standings with 104 points at the 2014 SEC Outdoor Championships, held on its home track. The fourth place finish marked the first time since 1983, when there were only seven teams in the league, that the Wildcats placed fourth or higher.

In the 2014 men’s team standings, UK finished sixth with 65.50 points. UK’s sixth place finish was the highest placing since 1996.