May 18, 2009
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Senior Kentucky thrower Ashley Muffet won the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Women’s Track and Field Commissioner’s Cup awarded to the league’s top individual point scorer at the annual outdoor championships for the second time in three years on the final day of the 2009 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships Sunday at host University of Florida’s Percy Beard Track within James G. Pressly Stadium.
The North Canton, Ohio, native totaled 21 points to win the trophy outright this season after she shared the trophy in 2007 as a sophomore with Auburn’s Kerron Stewart at 22 points.
“The great thing about Ashley is that she is very talented and she likes to compete in a lot of things,” Weber added. “She’s not a specialist in any event, so she is a great person to have on your team to score points.”
Muffet began competition on day two in the women’s hammer throwing a personal-best mark of 192-1 in the women’s hammer to place third overall and earn another six points. The distance also improved her third-place mark all-time at UK.
On day three, the veteran thrower won the women’s discus title. She threw last in the second flight and recorded the top mark of the day on her first throw from the ring measuring 182-0 and held off the competition for the title to earn 10 points.
As a result, Muffet became the first women’s outdoor throwing event conference outdoor champion at Kentucky. Additionally, she became the first UK women’s outdoor SEC champion in any event since former Wildcat Janet Crawford claimed the high jump title in 2002. The discus title was the second conference crown for Muffet after claiming the SEC Indoor shot put title in 2007.
Muffet continued her dominating weekend performance on day four, this time, in the shot put. After her first throw of the final measured 52-3.75, she moved from seventh place into fourth where she remained through the rest of the event. With the five points from the shot put, she notched 21 of Kentucky’s 56 points this weekend.
“Obviously, her performances this weekend spoke for themselves,” Reynolds said. “It speaks to her competitiveness, work ethic and dedication to be able to pull that feat off twice in three years as the top individual scorer. Now we’re looking forward to the regional and doing something at the national level.”
Video coverage of the Championships will be aired on a tape-delayed basis by FSN South on Sat. May 23 at 6:00 p.m. ET.
Wildcats with NCAA regional-qualifying marks will compete in two weeks at the NCAA Mideast Regional in Louisville, Ky., hosted by the University of Louisville May 29-30.
