Track and Field to Start Postseason at SEC Championships

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The 2015 outdoor track and field postseason will begin for Kentucky on Thursday as the Wildcats begin the Southeastern Conference Championships, hosted this year on the campus of Mississippi State.

Kentucky will be in somewhat uncharted territory as the Wildcats hosted the previous two SEC Track and Field Championships, indoors earlier this season and outdoors last May.

The meet begins on Thursday at Noon with the women’s hammer throw. Thursday’s action will consist of the start of the decathlon and heptathlon in addition to throws finals and running prelims. The action will conclude with the 10,000-meter finals.

Friday and Saturday action will be broadcast on SEC Network+ beginning Friday at 4:40 p.m. and Saturday at 3:50 p.m. The meet will also air as a two-hour highlight show May 21 beginning at 8 p.m. on ESPNU with Dwight Stones and Larry Rawson in the commentary booth and Jill Montgomery reporting trackside.

The Kentucky women’s team, which enters this weekend ranked No. 6 nationally, finished fourth at the SEC Championships last spring. The result was the team’s best SEC Outdoor finish since 1983, when there were only seven teams in the league. At the 2015 SEC Indoor Championships, the UK women placed fourth with the second-highest finish and point total in program history.

Kentucky’s defending SEC Outdoor Individual Champions include Kendra Harrison, who last season became the first woman to win the SEC 100-meter hurdles and 400m hurdles at the same SEC Championships since 1999.

Harrison enters the weekend as the NCAA leader in both the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles.

Raymond Dykstra who is undefeated in collegiate javelin competitions this season, will look to defend his SEC title on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. Keffri Neal had a breakout 1,500-meter performance en route to a surprise SEC title in the metric mile last year.

Sha’Keela Saunders enters the meet as the reigning indoor long jump champion, as she and teammate Kenyattia Hackworth went gold-silver indoors in Lexington in February.