By Jacob Most
Dec. 6, 2012 –
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The University of Kentucky Track and Field team will get a first glimpse of where it stands under first-year head coach Edrick Floreal when the indoor season begins at the Hoosier Open inside Gladstein Fieldhouse on Friday.
“It’s just your basic gut check to see where we are at,” Floreal said. “I think it’s just a matter of you can wait till January and get a bad surprise, or you can find out now that you’re either on the right track or you need to make some improvements. That’s all it is for us.”
The men’s and women’s teams will send 16 competitors each to the Indiana University campus with the first events getting under way at 5:30 p.m. ET.
The men will be led by a pair of 2012 Outdoor First Team All-American throwers, Raymond Dykstra and Andrew Evans.
Dykstra will participate in the shot put alongside Evans, who will also take part in the weight throw. Evans, a junior, had the best weight throw of any Wildcat last indoor season with a mark of 17.70m/58-1.00 at the SEC Championships.
Shiara Robinson, a past scorer at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, will help lead the way for the UK women in the 60 meters and 300m.
Three 2012 NCAA Regional participants, Terrence Boyd, Isiah Kent and Darryl Bradshaw will also get their first competitive runs of the season this weekend.
Boyd, a sophomore, will compete in the long jump as he had UK’s best indoors mark (15.23m/49-11.75) in that event last season.
Bradshaw will participate in the 300m, as well as the 60-meter hurdles, in which he clocked a Wildcat-best time of 7.12 last season.
Kayla Parker and Keilah Tyson, who both ran at 2012 NCAA Regionals will be on the track as well. Parker’s time of 8.46 in the 60-meter hurdles was the best for a UK hurdler in 2012. Tyson had the fastest time of any Wildcat at 60m (7.36) last season.
“I think for the team it’s a matter of the coaches and the athletes getting to know each other,” Floreal said. “You know the athletes in training, but often times what you see in practice and what you see in competition are two different things. We just want to get a good sense of where we are, where the kids are and kind of what their personalities are. How well they compete and how well they respond to stress.”
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