May 13, 2011

Athens, Ga. – On day two of the 2011 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Kentucky junior Precious Nwokey and senior Heather Smith combined for eight points on the women’s side while the men pushed junior Keith Hayes and senior Sharif Webb into the finals of 400-meter hurdles and the 800m run, respectively, Friday at the Spec Towns Track in Athens, Ga.

Smith started things off strong in the first event of the day, picking up the Wildcats first four points of the championships with a sixth-place finish in the women’s hammer throw. The senior, in possibly her final career competition for Kentucky, saved her best career throw for last, posting a life-time best mark on her final throw at 177-11/54.24m. Coming into the meet Smith had a previous-best mark of 175-07, set at the Kentuckiana Border Battle in 2010. With her outstanding performance Smith will now have to wait and see if she qualifies to throw again at the NCAA First Round in Bloomington, Ind.

After the hammer had concluded the heptathlon started back up with three events remaining. Nwokey opened things up with a career-best leap in the long jump at 19-10.75/6.06m, moving her into sole possession of first place after five events. The junior followed that with a 14th-place finish in the javelin throw (66-03/20.19m) and then bounced right back with a third-place showing in the 800m run with a time of 2:18.31. Nwokey finished fourth overall in the heptathlon competition with a final score of 5,385 and collected five points for the team. Nwokey holds the Kentucky record in the heptathlon with 5,543 points, which she set at the SEC championships in 2010. Overall, Nwokey was very impressive winning the long jump in addition to placing in the top three of the 100m hurdles, high jump, 200m dash and 800m run. The native of Houston, scored 4,556 in those five events for an astounding 911 point average. In contrast, Nwokey averaged 414.5 points in the two throwing events, leaving room for huge improvements in the future.

For the men, Hayes put together Kentucky’s highest finish of the day with a second-place performance in the 400m hurdle preliminaries. Hayes ran a personal-best time of 51.71 to win heat two, which moves him up to No. 5 on UK’s all-time 400m hurdles list. The 400m hurdles final will begin at 3:55 p.m. ET, Sunday. The junior will also be in action Saturday for the 110m hurdles, beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET, an event he currently holds the second-fastest time in the league at 13.76.  
 
Also moving onto the finals is Webb who finished second in heat three of the 800m run with a time of 1:51.09. Webb finished with the ninth- and final-qualifying time but did all he needed to move on.  The winners from each heat plus the five-fastest times move on to finals which will begin at 3:35 p.m. ET on Sunday. The senior holds the second-fastest time in the SEC this season at 1:47.19, only trailing Alabama’s Fred Samoei who has run 1:45.52.

Freshman Allison Peare fell just short in the women’s 800m run finishing 12th overall in the event with a time of 2:10.63. Peare finished second in the opening heat but like the men only the winner of each heat and the next five-fastest times move onto the finals. The freshman was inching closer to the UK freshman record of 2:06.47, as she holds a career- and season-best time of 2:07.36 set just two weeks ago in Palo Alto, Calif.

Sticking with freshmen, Kyron Joseph ran 21.25 in the men’s 200m dash for a career-best time in the event. Joseph finished 15th overall in the talented-laden 200m that featured 13 times less than 21 seconds. The freshman had set his previous-best time of 21.61 at the Kentuckiana Border Battle on April 9.

Kentucky will be back in action Saturday beginning with Keenan Hall in the long jump at 12:00 p.m. ET., with running events starting at 4:00 p.m. ET with the 1,500m run.
 

Friday’s Qualifiers

Sharif Webb – 800m Run (Final: Sunday at 3:35 p.m. ET)
Keith Hayes – 400m Hurdles (Final: Sunday at 3:55 p.m. ET)

Friday, May 13th Results

Women’s Hammer Throw – 10:00 a.m.

        6. Heather Smith – 177-11/54.24m (3 Points)
Men’s 800m Run Prelims – 5:30 p.m.

         9. Sharif Webb – 1:51.09q
        16. Robert Scharold – 1:54.00
        17. Matt Hillenbrand – 1:54.18
        21. Thomas Canary – 1:55.31
        25. Williams James – 1:56.73
Women’s 800m Run Prelims – 5:45 p.m.

        12. Allison Peare – 2:10.63
Men’s 200m Dash Prelims – 6:15 p.m.

        15. Kyron Joseph – 21.25
Women’s 200m Dash Prelims – 6:30 p.m.

        21. Jazmyn Shorter – 24.19
Men’s 400m Hurdles Prelims – 6:45 p.m.

        2. Keith Hayes – 51.71Q
Women’s 400m Hurdles Prelims – 7:00 p.m.

        15. Shiara Robinson – 1:02.34

Final Heptathlon Results

4. Precious Nwokey – 5,385 points (5 points)
    100m Hurdles

     3. Precious Nwokey – 13.94 (987 points)
     High Jump

     2. Precious Nwokey – 5-09.25/1.76m (928 points)
     Shot Put

     10. Precious Nwokey – 33-02.00/10.11 (537 points)
     200m Dash

     2. Precious Nwokey – 24.58 (926 points)
    Long Jump

    1. Precious Nwokey – 19-10.75/6.06m (868 points)
    Javelin Throw

    14. Precious Nwokey – 66-03/20.19m (292 points)    
    800m Run

    3. Precious Nwokey – 2:18.31 (847 points)

9. Ashley Newby – 4,624 points
     100m Hurdles

     8. Ashley Newby – 14.30 (936 points)
     High Jump

     7. Ashley Newby – 5-04.25/1.64m (783 points)
     Shot Put

     5. Ashley Newby – 35-10.00/10.92m (590 points)    
     200m Dash

    12. Ashley Newby – 26.44 (759 points)
    Long Jump

    11. Ashley Newby – 17-02.75/5.25m (628 points)
    Javelin Throw

    13. Ashley Newby – 71-00/21.66m (320 points)
    800m Run

    9. Ashley Newby – 2:36.94 (608 points)

12. Kayla Parker – 4,437 points
     100m Hurdles

     4. Kayla Parker – 14.03 (974 points)
     High Jump

     13. Kayla Parker – 4-11.75/1.52m (644 points)
     Shot Put

     13. Kayla Parker – 29-09.25/9.07m (469 points)
    200m Dash

    8. Kayla Parker – 25.52 (840 points)
    Long Jump

    7. Kayla Parker – 18-03.75/5.58m (723 points)
    Javelin Throw

    12. Kayla Parker – 75-10/23.12m (347 points)
   800m Run

   10. Kayla Parker – 2:52.26 (440 points)

Saturday, May 14th Schedule

Men’s Long Jump – 12:00 p.m.

        Keenan Hall

Women’s High Jump – 12:00 p.m.

        Terri-Ann Grant

Men’s Shot Put – 1:30 p.m.

        Colin Boevers

        Isiah Kent

Women’s Pole Vault – 2:30 p.m.

        Samantha Stenzel

        Shelby Kennard

Women’s Discus Throw – 3:30 p.m.

        Mary Angell

Men’s 1,500m Run Prelims – 4:00 p.m.

        Matt Hillenbrand

        Robert Scharold

        Adam Kahleifeh

Women’s 1,500m Run Prelims – 4:15 p.m.

        Cally Macumber

        Taylor Wendler

        Megan Wright

        Anna Bostrom

Men’s 110m Hurdles Prelims – 4:30 p.m.

        Keith Hayes

        Darryl Bradshaw

Women’s 100m Hurdles Prelims – 4:45 p.m.

        Precious Nwokey

        Kayla Parker

Men’s 400m Dash Prelims – 5:00 p.m.

        Ben Mason

        Cody Miller

Women’s 400m Dash Prelims – 5:15 p.m.

        Jenna Martin

        Brittany Cabbler

        Julie Nunn

Men’s 100m Dash Prelims – 5:30 p.m.

        Kyron Joseph

Men’s 3,000m Steeplechase – 6:05 p.m.

        Luis Orta