April 8, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky track and field team travels to Louisville’s Cardinal Park for a quad-team dual-scored match that pairs Kentucky and the University of Louisville against the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University in The Border Battle: ‘Kentuckiana’ on Saturday.
The dual-scored meet showcases team `Hoosier Land’ – Notre Dame and Indiana – against team `Commonwealth’ – Kentucky and Louisville. The day begins with the field events at 10:30 a.m., with the men’s javelin. The running events, starting with the women’s 5,000m, begin at 2 p.m. Admission is free, and live results can be accessed at UofLsports.com.
UK and Louisville defeated Indiana and Notre Dame in the first ever `Kentuckiana’ Border Battle last year with the Commonwealth accruing 103 points to Hoosier Land’s 99 on the men’s side and 100-96 on the women’s.
Kentucky contributed eight first-place victories to the Commonwealth win including both of the men’s and women’s 4×100 relay teams.
David Banks landed a new school record with a leap of 51-05.00/15.67m in the men’s triple jump. Banks’ school record ruptured the 29-year-old record set by Bethel Ward in 1981. Banks also contributed points in the men’s long jump with a third-place finish and jump of 23 -07.50/7.20m
Women’s senior sprinter Jenna Martin topped the competition in both the 200m and 400m dash. Martin ran a 24.54 and 54.25 respectively. Shiara Robinson followed right behind Martin in the 200m dash claiming second place with a time of 25.09, while Brittany Cabbler was on Martin’s trail in the 400m race with a time of 55.97.
Samantha Stenzel won the women’s pole vault with a jump of 12-07.50/3.85m.
For the throwers, Colin Boevers finished first in his specialty, the discus throw. Boevers threw 184-04/56.20m to claim victory.
UK is coming off several impressive performances at the Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla. and looks to build on that progress during the early part of the outdoor season.
Senior middle-distance runner Sharif Webb won the 800m run for the second-consecutive year while setting Kentucky’s 800m record and snapping a 25-year old Florida Relays record, for one of two Kentucky wins at the competition. Webb claimed the win with a career, school and meet-best time of 1:47.19. The senior surpassed Jean Balan’s Kentucky school-record mark of 1:47.22 set in 2003 and blew by the Florida Relays meet record of 1:47.49, which had stood since 1986. Webb’s previous career-fastest time was 1:47.64 set last season in Knoxville, Tenn.
Webb goes into this weekend with the fastest time in the Southeastern Conference by more than one second over Sean Obinwa from Florida. The mark is currently the world’s 12th-fastest time and the fourth-fastest time among his American counterparts.
The Wildcats second win of the Florida Relays came from sophomore standout Cally Macumber in the women’s 1,500m run, who circled the track in a personal-best time of 4:24.32, eclipsing her previous-best mark of 4:32.91 set in Louisville last season. Macumber’s new career-fast time moves her into 10th place on UK’s all-time 1,500m run list, passing Kim Hawkins who ran 4:24.84 in 1986.
A pair of Kentucky discus throwers grabbed top-four finishes, with senior Mary Angell finishing third overall in the women’s discus throw and Colin Boevers fourth on the men’s side. Angell closed out the competition with a long throw of 51.34m/168-05 while Boevers finished fourth with a throw of 57.26m/187-10.
UK’s fourth impressive performance of the day was by junior Luis Orta in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase. Orta finished fourth overall with a time of 9:01.54 in the event, approaching his career-best time of 8:52.39 set in 2009 at the Percy Beard Track.
On day two of the Relays the women’s 4,000-meter distance medley relay team finished third overall in the event with a time of 11:54.32. Another medley relay on the women’s side, the sprint medley relay, finished fourth with a time of 3:53.28.
