Mideast Regional Preview – MEN
Sprints
The men?s sprint group will make up the majority of the Cats? regional squad. In the short sprints, freshmen Gordon McKenzie (100, 200) and Jose Acevedo (200) are slated to run. In the 400, junior Luis Luna, who reached the finals at the SEC meet, will lead the charge. Sophomore Justin Harrison looks to be recovered from his hamstring injury and is expected to race. Fellow sophomore Nathan Browning will also run. Senior Dedrick Tillerson will look to prolong his UK career as he runs the 400 hurdles. UK?s 4×100 and 4×400 (second place SECs) will also compete.
Middle Distance
Coming off of one of the greatest middle distance performances in UK history, sophomore John Richardson will focus his attention on the 1,500 this weekend. Two weeks ago, Richardson won the event at the SEC meet in a personal-best time of 3:43.90. He later placed second in the 800. Of those entered in this weekend?s 1,500, Richardson owns the fourth-fastest time.
Field Events
Junior Andy Fryman will do double-duty by competing in the shot put and discus. Fryman won the SEC outdoor shot put title and enters the regional meet as the No. 1 seed (63-4.25, fourth all-time UK). Fryman reached last year?s NCAA meet in the event as an at-large selection. Fellow junior Gavin Ball, who placed third at the conference outdoor meet and won the indoor crown, will also look for a championship berth in the shot put. Ball owns the ninth-best throw (58-4).
Mideast Regional Preview – WOMEN
Middle Distance
After scoring for the Cats in both the 800 and 1,500 at the SEC Championships, sophomore Lavera Morris and junior Georganne Way will focus solely on the 800 where both runners enter this weekend owning two of the top five season-bests in the field.
Field Events
The UK throwers will have five opportunities for a postseason berth with freshman Ashley Muffet and seniors Ildiko Varga and Nicole Allyn all set to compete. Muffet, who scored a second place finish at the SEC meet in the shot put (54-2.50, UK school record), owns the fifth-farthest toss among the 30 throwers competing. Muffet will also compete in the hammer throw. Allyn also made her mark on the UK record books with a fourth place and school record hammer throw of 194-7 at the SEC meet. After reaching last season?s NCAA meet, Varga will look for a return trip as she enters the discus competition as the No. 2 seed (185-10, UK school record).
NCAA Qualifying Breakdown
1. Finish in the top five in an individual event or top three in a relay at the regional qualifying meets; or 2. Earn an at-large selection. After the automatic qualifiers (top five declared athletes in individual events, top three declared relays based upon regional performance) have been identified, the committee will place the next seven declared athletes/relay teams (plus ties based on place) in each event based upon regional performance into the national at-large pool. Previously, only the next three declared athletes/relay teams in each regional event advanced to the at-large pool. The at-large pool athletes are then listed in order of their best performance of the year, including any best marks established at the regional meet. The committee will fill the field in each event by starting at the top of the at-large pool until the cap of 544 athletes per gender is reached. If the numbers of allowable student-athletes established by the Championships/Competition Cabinet have not been reached after automatic qualifiers and minimum field sizes have been accommodated, the committee will add athletes to the meet by adding equally to all events (including relays) for as long as the number of available athletes spaces will allow. At this step, if two or more athletes are tied for the next qualifying performance, all such athletes will be added to the field as long as the number of spaces available is sufficient
