Mar. 1, 1998

BATON ROUGE, La.– University of Kentucky’s Valerie Williams recorded a triple jump of 41 feet 2.5 inches to claim the women’s SEC triple jump title at the conference championships Sunday. Williams edged out Meagan Moncrieffe of Auburn by one inch to claim the only SEC individual crown for the Wildcats. Matt Kavanagh and Jamie Shannon were UK’s other top individual performers.

Kavanagh and Shannon finished second and third, respectively, to Alabama’s Derrick Jones in the 35-pound weight throw. Mark Miller, Thomas Jonsson, Jeffrey Ellis and Dwight Phillips finished second in the 1,600-meter relay with their time of three minutes, 14.25 seconds. Florida’s squad took home the top spot with their time of three minutes, 13.21 seconds.

Other UK highlights include Miller finishing eighth in the 400-meter dash with his time of 49.45 seconds, Lutisah Shittu and Shonnisha Johnson finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 55-meter high hurdles and Alan Beymer and Jeff Limpert finishing sixth and seventh in the 800-meter run.

The women’s squad finished the championships in ninth place while the men’s team finished eighth. Louisiana State and Arkansas won the women’s and men’s team championships, respectively.