Nine student-athletes will represent the University of Kentucky when the NCAA IndoorChampionships begin on Friday, March 9, at the Randal Tyson Track Complex on thecampus of the University of Arkansas.

The youthful UK contingent is comprised of five sophomores and four freshman, and isheaded up by two-event qualifier James Doaty. A freshman from Louisville, Ky., Doatyqualified for the men’s 800 meters with a stellar performance in the 800 at the SEC IndoorChampionships two weeks ago in Lexington. His time of 1:47.93, the second-fastest in thecountry this season, broke the UK school record, shaved two seconds off his personal best,and earned him second place in his inaugural SEC Championship meet. Also in the 800 willbe fellow freshman David Freeman, a Florida state 800-meter champion, whose qualifyingtime of 1:48.54 was the eighth-fastest in the nation.

Doaty, a national high school and junior 800-meter champion, also qualified as part ofthe men’s distance medley relay team. He joins fellow freshman Paul Ciurlys andsophomores Hunter Spencer, Chad Johnson, Thomas Morgan and Jack Morgan as possiblemembers of the relay team. The quartet of Spencer, Johnson, Doaty and T. Morgan qualifiedthe relay team with a school-record time of 9:37.12, the 10th-fastest in the country.

Closing out the men’s qualifiers is freshman Jeff Chakouian who will attempt to match hisSEC title in the shot put with an NCAA crown. Chakouian, the top-ranked junior-aged athletein the world in 2000, earned a trip to the national meet with his very first throw as a Wildcatwhen he heaved the shot a school-record distance of 65-10.50 to earn a No. 4 nationalranking. Throughout the indoor season, he had three other marks that met the minimumprovisional-qualifying standard and two more that met the automatic-qualifying standard.

For the women, sophomore Simidele Adeagbo, another Louisville native, earned her tripwith a leap of 42-04.00 in finishing third at the SEC Indoor Championships. That qualifyingmark also was a personal best and a school record, and ranks No. 13 in the nation.

UK’s representatives take the track at 4:15 p.m. CST on Friday with the preliminaries ofthe men’s 800 meters followed by the men’s distance medley relay finals at 9:00 p.m. Thefinals of the men’s shot put and 800 meters and women’s triple jump will be held on Saturday.