April 11, 2009
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Strong thunderstorms rolled through Knoxville on Friday pushing back most of the Kentucky track and field performances by several hours at the Sea Ray Relays hosted by the University of Tennessee on the Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium.
Before poor weather conditions delayed the meet, freshman Samantha Stenzel set the UK women’s pole vault freshman record for the third time in three meets. Stenzel continued to close in on the varsity record, clearing 11-11.75 to break her rookie record from last weekend and vault into third all-time at UK.
Strong, gusty winds prior to the storms aided the runners in the men’s 100m dash heats in the afternoon. Freshman Justin Austin took advantage of the opportunity with a fourth-place finish of 10.35. His personal-best time as a Wildcat ranks tenth in school history.
In the last event before the storms, junior Kwasi Obeng claimed tenth in the men’s 400m dash, clocking in at 48.25.
After almost a four-hour delay athletes returned to the track.
Sophomore David Banks capitalized on his return to the triple jump pit. Banks won the competition with a personal-best leap of 50-6.25 to take over sole possession of fourth all-time at UK. Freshman Steve Crouse placed ninth with a distance of 47-9.25.
Sophomore Ke’Undra Bishop placed ninth in the women’s triple jump, hitting the dirt at 38-7.50.
In the men’s 800m run, senior Stephan Smith took home seventh place in a time of 1:51.32.
Events scheduled late on Friday continued into early Saturday morning. Wildcat results from those events will be covered in the final day recap. On Saturday, field events start at 9:15 a.m. ET and running events get out of the blocks at 12:40 p.m. Live results can be found at UKathletics.com.
The Wildcat men hold the No. 9 position in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll released Wednesday. Last season, the UK men placed ninth nationally at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the Cats’ best finish in the 87-year history of the championships, with three medalists and seven All-America honorees.
A full recap of the Cats’ performances will be available on UKathletics.com after Saturday’s competition.
