FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. ? Sophomore John Richardson gave one of the best performances in Kentucky history as he won the 1,500-meter run and placed second in the 800 on the final day at the 2006 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships at John McDonnell Field. Richardson?s performance and the men?s second place 4×400 relay squad helped the team score its highest point total (58 points) since 1996. Freshman Ashley Muffet highlighted the day for the women by breaking a 23-year old school record in the shot put to place second.
?Historically we have come to this meet and not been able to compete from a team standpoint, head coach Don Weber said after the meet. ?We would have some good individual performances, but not succeed as a complete team. This was one of the first years we had the approach we needed in order to have a well-rounded performance. The biggest change was having our kids double-up on events. We had multiple kids come out and run in two and three events on back-to-back days and that is what we needed in order to succeed. We had some performances this weekend ? personal-bests, season-bests, etc. ? that are going to be career-changing. Our kids stretched themselves to the limit and it showed in the results. Overall, I think both teams showed a lot of guts and class and we are extremely happy with the effort.?
Richardson picked a perfect time to run the race of his life. The sophomore from Ocean City, N.J. had been steadily improving as the outdoor season progressed and used Sunday evening?s 1,500 finals to put it all together. Running among the front five runners for a majority of the race, Richardson kept pre-race favorite, Arkansas? Josphat Boit, in his sights. Along the backstretch of the final lap, Richardson made a courageous move towards the front and passed Boit with 100 meters to go and won going away with a personal-best time of 3:43.90. His time moved him into ninth all-time at Kentucky. The win earned UK 10 points and gave Kentucky its second title of the meet (Andy Fryman, shot put). The last time the Cats won two SEC titles was 2002 when Jeff Chakouian won the shot put and Janet Crawford won the high jump. Richardson was the first Kentucky 1,500 winner since Bob Whelan in 1990.
?My goal was to stay relaxed up until the race and I was able to do that,? the sophomore said following the win. ?I felt smooth throughout the race. I didn?t have to battle for position. My training has been clicking and it just worked out perfectly for me. I was confident in myself. I knew (Josphat) Boit?s legs were tired (Boit won the 10K on Friday) and he had the wind against him so I wasn?t too worried.?
With gas still left in the tank, Richardson came from way off the pace to place second in the 800 finals (1:49.91). Richardson executed the race to perfection, sagging behind for the first 400 meters. Along the backstretch, he moved towards the pack and when the pack broke with 150 meters remaining, Richardson gave chase towards the leaders. In sixth place with 100 meters to go, Richardson closed in identical fashion to the 1,500 and clipped Arkansas’ Brian Roe (1:50.06) for second place. Florida’s Shane Stroup held on for the victory (1:49.46). For the meet, Richardson scored a team-high 18 points.
Freshman Ashley Muffet destroyed a 23-year old Kentucky record in the shot put with a monster second place throw of 54-2.50. In only her first outdoor season, Muffet ranks first in the shot put, tied for third in the hammer throw (frosh record) and eighth in the discus all-time at UK. The frosh phenom also finished third in the shot put at the SEC Indoor Championships. The North Canton, Ohio native tallied nine team points for the meet after placing eighth in yesterday?s hammer.
Juniors Andy Fryman (171-1) and Gavin Ball (166-5) picked up a combined five points for the Cats with sixth and seventh place finishes, respectively, in the discus. For the meet, Fryman placed first in the shot put, fifth in the hammer throw and sixth in the discus, earning the third-year standout 17 team points. Ball placed third in the shot put and seventh in the discus for eight points combined.
Junior Kathleen Biondi added to the women?s team score with an eighth place finish in the javelin (134-2). Biondi?s performance marked the second straight year she had placed for the Cats after finishing seventh last season.
The Kentucky men?s 4×100 relay opened the evening?s running events with a sixth place finish (40.76), good for three team points. Freshman Jose Acevedo led off, followed by fellow first-year sprinters Gordon McKenzie and Brandon Austin. Sophomore Nathan Browning ran the anchor leg.
Sophomore Lavera Morris and junior Georganne Way competed in the 1,500 and 800 finals and combined for 14 team points (Morris nine, Way five). In the 1,500, Morris placed fifth with a career-best 4:26.53 (regional mark), while Way came in right off her back with a sixth place finish (4:27.04). Both runners were out of scoring contention with 250 meters to go, but made a strong push at the end to pass three runners. Less than an hour after running the 1,500, both runners took to the track and gave a gutsy performance in the 800. Morris passed three runners on the backstretch to place fourth (2:07.95), while Way hung on for seventh (2:09.06).
Junior Luis Luna scored a point for the men?s team with an eighth place finish in the 400 (47.20), while senior Dedrick Tillerson finished sixth in the 400 hurdles (52.30). Tillerson placed fifth at last season?s championships. Freshman Ashley Trimble chipped in four points for the women’s group with a fifth place finish in the 400 hurdlers (1:01.31).
To close out the meet, the men?s 4×400 almost came up with a huge upset, finishing a close second (3:06.32) to No. 1-ranked LSU (3:05.98). The Cats led off the race with Browning, followed by Acevedo and Tillerson. Tillerson, who filled in for the injured Justin Harrison, gave a tremendous effort before passing the baton to Luna on the final leg. Luna was five meters behind LSU at the start of the final leg but crept into contention on the backstretch. Luna gave one final push with 50 meters to go, but LSU?s Melville Rogers held on for the victory. With the effort, the Cats picked up eight team points. LSU and Kentucky still own the top two season-bests in the country, respectively, this season. The women?s 4×400 relay placed eighth (3:46.32). Way and Morris helped the cause by running in their third event of the day.
Kentucky?s 58-point output and seventh place finish on the men?s side was the highest point total and finish since 1996 when the team placed sixth with 79 points. It was also a 30-point improvement over last year?s performance. The women?s squad produced 45 points ? its highest mark since 2003 (49) ? to finish eighth. The women improved 14 points from 2005.
The men?s team title went to Arkansas for the fourth consecutive year (137.50 points). The Razorbacks racked up 57 points combined in the 10,000 and 5,000. Georgia won the women?s crown (136 pts.), edging out Auburn by one point.
Richardson tied for sixth in the standings for the men?s SEC Commissioners Trophy (highest scoring individual) with 18 total team points. Fryman was ninth with 17.Tennessee?s Chris Helwick won the crown with 28.50.
The Cats will take next weekend off as they prepare for the NCAA Mideast Regional at Knoxville, Tenn. (May 26-27). The men?s team owns 16 regional marks, while the women?s team has ten.
