Feb. 12, 2000

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Junior Chris Daniel cleared 17-00.00 in the pole vault toclaim the University of Kentucky’s lone first place finish at the VirginiaTech Kroger Invitational Saturday.

Daniel’s jump was not only the best for him this season, but it was also apersonal best. He topped his previous season high by exactly 12 inches andhis previous personal best by 6.75 inches.

Shevan Threats continued to improve as she claimed fifth place in the longjump with a leap of 19-09.50. Although the junior was not able to get hersixth consecutive victory in the event, the jump was good enough toestablish a new seasonal high.

Senior Roshell Russell maintained her steady work in the 200-meter and400-meter dashes with a seventh and a fifth-place finish, respectively.Both times topped her fastest of the year.

Other top UK finishers were junior Andrew VanderWagen and freshman MattSmotherman in the high jump. They both cleared 6-09.00 to tie for thirdplace.

The Wildcats again continued to improve on their performances with 10 moreseasonal bests, adding to the 17 established last weekend. These alsoincluded top times for freshman David Hall and sophomore David Robinson inthe 3000-meter run, sophomore Miranda Martin in the 400-meter dash,freshman Thomas Morgan in the one-mile run, and freshman Marie Patton inthe 800-meter run. Patton’s eighth-place finish in the 800 with a time of2:14.93 was also a personal best.

Senior Matt Kavanagh, VanderWagen and Threats have already provisionallyqualified for the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on March 10-11.With the Virginia Tech Invitational being UK’s last indoor meet of theseason, the Cats will have only one more chance to get national qualifyingmarks/times. That will come in two weeks at the Southeastern ConferenceChampionships on Feb. 26-27.

AGATE: (First place and Kentucky finishers)