Philadelphia, Penn. ? The Kentucky women?s 4 x 1,500-meter relay team smashed the school record Friday afternoon at the historic Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Penn. The squad, which came in fifth in the event with their time of 17:43.34, also saw three of the four relay members set personal-best split times in the race.
Brooke Patterson led the way with the fastest first split among the 14 competing teams, a personal best clip of 4:20.9. Candace Leep followed with a split time of 4:32.0, and Caitlin Phillips and Beth Heimann closed out the race with personal-best legs of 4:23.7 and 4:26.7, respectively. The record time was more than 15 seconds faster than the old mark of 17:58.41 set in 1989, which was the sixth-oldest school record at UK.
Stanford took home first place in the event with a time of 17:26.88.
UK?s Jeff Chakouian also returned to action Friday the relays, taking fifth place in the shot put with a toss of 58-06.00. Ohio State?s Dan Taylor won the competition with a mark of 66-07.75.
Five first-place finishes highlighted UK?s competition Friday at the Louisville Cardinal Open. On the women?s side, Talonda Ingram took first in the 200 meters, Georganne Way brought home top honors in the 800 meters, and Ildiko Varga came on top in the discus throw with a mark of 164–11.00. Molly Lonergan and Gennessa Guzman helped UK sweep the event with second and third-place finishes, respectively. The women?s 4 x 400-meter relay topped its season mark yet again, coming in first at the meet with a time of 3:42.49 and bettering their season-best time set last weekend at LSU. Ingram also registered a third-place and season-best mark in the 100-meter dash with a mark of 11.87.
The men also made a sweep of a field event, as Andy Fryman took first place in the shot put while setting a seasonal best at 58-06.75. Tony Tzouanakis came in a close second with a throw of 52-07.50. Both student-athletes also took top-six finishes in the discus Friday. Justin Amason secured another top-five finish in the 1,500 meters in 3:57.88.
The Cats return to action Saturday with the men?s and women?s 4 x 800-meter relays at the Penn Relays.
