Lenford, Soboda, Brown, Lang, St. Hillaire, Williams, Both Relays Advance to NCAA Championships

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Charles Lenford Jr., Josh Soboda, Tai Brown, Lance Lang, Dwight St. Hillaire, Kenroy Williams and both relays from the Kentucky men’s track and field team advanced to the NCAA Championships during Friday’s NCAA East Preliminaries at the University of North Florida.
 
There are no team scores in the Preliminaries, as the goal is to advance individuals and relays to the NCAA Championships, set for June 9-12 in Eugene, Ore. The top 12 finishers in each Preliminaries event advance; some of the events in Jacksonville have only one round of competition while others require two rounds.
 
Having already booked a trip to the nationals during Wednesday’s shot put, UK’s throwing duo of Lenford and Sobota double-booked by finishing seventh and 10th, respectively, in the discus throw. Coming off a gold-medal showing at the Southeastern Conference championships, Lenford hurled the discus 191’3″/58.29 meters, providing a comfortable eight-foot cushion to advance.  Sobota, a bronze medalist at the SECs, tossed the platter 187’7″, with nearly five feet to spare.
 
The 4×100- and 4×400-meter relays bookended the day at the races with qualifications.
·       Beginning the running events, the 4×100 unit of Kennedy Lightner, Lance Lang, Rodney Heath Jr. and Dwight St. Hillaire went through by placing third in their heat, 11th overall, with a time of 39.45 seconds.
·       Ending the night was Kentucky’s bizarre heat in the 4×400 relay.  In the midst of the opening leg, the Hodges Stadium lights went out.  Continuing to run in faint light from miscellaneous sources – including fans in the stands who shone light from their cell phones – Kenroy Williams, Lang, St. Hillaire and Kennedy Lightner managed to win their heat with a time of 3:04.23.
 

Welp that was wild but apparently our 4×4 won heat two after the power in Hodges Stadium went out during the first leg.

The SEC Champions Kenroy Williams, Lance Lang, Dwight St. Hillaire and Kennedy Lightner with a 3:04.23Q to win heat two at #NCAATFeast prelims. pic.twitter.com/YhpXX4QXBT

— UK Track & Field (@KentuckyTrack) May 29, 2021

The 4×400 concluded a great day for Lang.  Two days after posting a personal best and the No. 4 time in school history in the 100m dash, Lang scorched another PB with a 10.08 clocking that is No. 2 in UK annals – just 0.02 behind Wildcat record-holder and Olympian Tim Harden.  Lang needed every bit of the time, as he qualified for the nationals by a mere .02.
 
Lang followed with another sizzler, a would-be school record 20.06 seconds in the 200m, but as a wind-aided time (+3.2) cannot go down in the record books. He advanced to the nationals by finishing third. Including the two relays, Lang was a nationals qualifier in four races on the day. 
 
The 400m distance saw two more advancements for the UK men. In the hurdles, Kenroy Williams notched the No. 2 time in school history at 50.18 seconds, good for fifth place among the day’s racers.  In the dash, Dwight St. Hillaire advanced to Eugene by placing 11th at 45.91 seconds. 
 
In the 110m hurdles, Tai Brown showed why he is one of the best in the nation.  He won his heat, third overall, with a time of 13.69.
 
All totaled, UK earned 13 men’s entries in Eugene. That includes four Wildcats who qualified Wednesday, including Trey Causey III in the long jump, Keaton Daniel in the pole vault, and Sobota/Lenford in the shot put.
 
Friday’s events concluded the men’s competition. The women’s competition resumes Saturday with field events at 1 p.m. and track events at 5:30 p.m. Kentucky will have 13 Saturday entries looking to earn a ticket to the nationals.

Follow along with the Cats on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.