March 2, 2003
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Kentucky track and field squads wrapped up competition at the 2003 Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in Gainesville, Fla., on Sunday, March 2, with two event titles and eight athletes earning All-SEC honors. In addition to junior Jeff Chakouian’s shot put title on Saturday, Simidele Adeagbo claimed the women’s triple jump and Janet Crawford won the women’s high jump.
Adeagbo had a career day in the triple jump, taking All-SEC honors with a career-best jump of 43-09.25, an NCAA automatic qualifying mark. Crawford matched her personal best in the high jump with a leap of 5-11.25 to take her third consecutive SEC high jump title. Crawford won the event at both the indoor and outdoor league meets last year.
Also earning All-SEC honors at the championship was the men’s distance medley relay team of Jean Balan, James Doaty, Chad Johnson and Kris Landers. The group finished second with a time of 9:42.11, a provisional qualifying mark. Junior Hunter Spencer took second-place honors in the men’s mile, also earning all-conference recognition. Teammate David Freeman just missed the elite list by taking third in the men’s mile.
Ernest Simms finished third overall in the 55 meters after winning the preliminary heat on Saturday. His time of 6.23 in the event was a provisional mark. In 800-meter action, Beth Heimann was third in the women’s race with a time of 2:05.80, while Doaty was fourth for the men with 1:49.34 on the clock.
Junior Caitlin Phillips took third in the 5,000 meters, while Thomas Morgan was ninth for the men in the same run. In the men’s high jump, Matt Smothermon was fifth with a final jump of 6-09.00.
Both the men’s and women’s teams took home seventh place in the three-day meet. Arkansas dominated the meet, taking both SEC Championship trophies back to Fayetteville.
