As the Kentucky track and field team travels to Greensboro, N.C., this weekend to compete at the NCAA East Regional, the Wildcats will look to improve on their Southeastern Conference Championships performance and send as many athletes to nationals as they can. That’s head coach Edrick Floreal’s motto anyhow. The former Olympian (1988 and 1992), and 2012 U.S. Olympic Team jumps coach has tried to hammer home to his athletes that they can only compete to the best of their ability.UK has a talented group of individuals, but it’s the same team that finished near the bottom of the SEC Championships in 2012.The Wildcats have grown immensely under Floreal. Kentucky finished seventh in both the men’s and women’s competitions at this year’s SEC Championships, which was a major improvement from the previous season’s results. UK may not have the caliber of athletes Floreal eventually wants across the board, but he is certainly getting every ounce of athletic ability out of his team in the meantime. “I want them to step back up and do what they are capable of doing and if you do that and if that’s not good enough then you have to get back to work and get better,” Floreal said. “That’s my expectation, that we are going to do what we think we can do and let the rest of the SEC and the region sort themselves out. If we do what we are capable of doing you can’t really be disappointed with that.”The Cats met their head coach’s goal of finishing in the top half of the conference with their seventh-place finishes at SECs. However, Floreal feels UK left a lot of points out on the table and could have finished even higher. Despite battling the injury bug and some mental errors, Kentucky had a shot at finishing in the top five according to Floreal. Senior All-American hurdler Keith Hayes was a near guarantee to finish in the top three of his events before straining his hamstring in his first competition. UK’s talented 4 x 100-meter relay team of Morganne Phillips, Tamyah Pipkin, Kayla Parker and Keilah Tyson was projected to score highly before being disqualified for passing the baton illegally. “I felt like in several instances, we didn’t do what we are capable of doing and that’s where some of the frustrations are because we feel like we’re so much better of a team and we want to prove that,” Floreal said. “You have to earn your stripes like everybody else, especially in this conference. We are getting better, we’re getting older, we’re getting more mature and we will be able to handle difficult situations a little bit better.”Kentucky received several good performances from individuals who have provided them all year. Junior Chelsea Oswald took home the 10,000- and 5,000-meter titles, while Andrew Evans, Raymond Dykstra and Matt Hillenbrand finished second in their respective events.Those Cats have proven all year that they are ahead of the rest of the conference and Floreal expects them to compete hard and finish near the top of the field every time out. He admits he may take it for granted, but it’s the borderline athletes with whom Floreal is working to get them to buy in and have the kind of breakthrough performances that really give him satisfaction as a coach.Parker is one athlete who has bought into the system since day one and is now reaping the benefits of her hard work. The junior finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles final with a personal record time of 13.19 seconds, just 0.03 off the school record.”Kayla is a role model and a team captain to make sure everyone buys in and has great leadership not just worrying about herself but worrying about everyone else,” Floreal said. “You need people in there who are going to score 20 points and be leaders and you need people in there that are going to keep everyone in line and also be leaders. There are different leaders that you need to have a successful team.”UK will send 27 athletes to regionals this weekend (14 men and 13 women). While Floreal has searched for unique ways to motivate his team all season, his message for this weekend was simple and to the point.”This weekend is more so advancing to the NCAA and less about a team competition,” Floreal said. “Each individual has to take care of their own business. You can be first or you can be 12th it’s the same thing. Just be top 12, let’s move on and we’ll do it again in two weeks at nationals.”