Kentucky Outdoor Track Season Begins at South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The University of Kentucky track and field teams open the outdoor season this week at the Weems Baskin at the University of South Carolina. One Wildcat is competing at a separate event this week as multi-event athlete Annika Williams is in the women’s heptathlon at the Texas Relays.
Friday’s action at Creggar Track begins with field events at 10 a.m. and track events at 4 p.m. On Saturday, action resumes in the field at 10 a.m. and on the track at 11 a.m.
In addition to Kentucky and host South Carolina, schools scheduled to compete include Appalachian State, Benedict, Campbell, Charleston Southern, Claflin, Coastal Carolina, Coppin State, Emmanuel College, Furman, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Limestone College, North Carolina A&T, North Greenville University, Presbyterian College, Savannah State, South Carolina State, Southern Wesleyan, The Citadel, Charlotte, Northern Colorado, Virginia Tech and Voorhees College.
The event is named in honor of Weems Baskin, the South Carolina track and field coach from 1949-72. The event inaugurates six consecutive weekends of regular-season action for the Wildcats. Here is the complete schedule:
- March 26-27: Weems Baskin (Columbia, S.C.)
- April 2-3: Florida Relays (Gainesville)
- April 9-10: Joe Walker Invite (Oxford, Miss.)
- April 16-17: Tom Jones Classic (Gainesville, Fla.)
- April 16-17: Eastern Kentucky Twilight (Richmond)
- April 23-24: LSU Alumni Gold (Baton Rouge, La.)
- April 30-May 1: Kentucky Open (Lexington)
Postseason action begins May 13-15 at the Southeastern Conference Championships at Texas A&M. The NCAA Preliminary Meet will be May 27-29 in Jacksonville, Florida, followed by the NCAA Championships at Eugene, Oregon, June 9-12.
After the Texas Relays 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m dash on Thursday, Williams is in fifth place among 15 competitors with 3340 points. The long jump, javelin throw and 800-meter run will compete the heptathlon Friday.
Kentucky completed the indoor season March 13 with the Wildcat women placing 13th at the NCAA Championships and the men in 14th place – the best showing for the UK men in a quarter-century. UK’s point scorers for the women included Abby Steiner, gold medalist in the 200-meter dash, along with the 4×400-meter relay (fifth place) and Annika Williams in the pentathlon (sixth place). Tallying for the UK men were the silver-medalist 4×400 relay, Lance Lang in the 200m dash (sixth place) and Dwight St. Hillaire in the 400m dash (eighth place).
Both teams will be bolstered by athletes who had completed eligibility for indoor track but are now available for the outdoor season, including sprinter Celera Barnes, high jumper Ellen Ekholm, thrower Nicole Fautsch, and sprinter Faith Ross for the women’s team and thrower Charles Lenford on the men’s side. In addition, men’s sprinter Langston Jackson hope to resume competition this week after missing the indoor season because of injury. In the coming weeks, UK hopes to regain contributions from women’s sprinter Alexis Holmes, also dealing with injury.
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