Seven Additions to Track and Field Roster Announced
Aug. 1, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky head coach Edrick Floreal announced seven additions to the incoming track and field class on Thursday.
The seven newcomers have earned a combined 17 USTFCCCA All-America honors between them in addition to 16 individual college conference titles.
The entire class of newcomers features 19 high-school champions with more than 50 state titles between them. The incoming class also includes 20 additions who posted times/marks as prep athletes that rank(ed) inside the Track and Field news High School National Top 25.
Six of the seven the newcomers are college transfers.
UK’s incoming class is now made up of 37 (24 men and 13 women) newcomers who hail from 16 states.
Dezerea Bryant – Transfer – Clemson – Milwaukee, Wis.
Dezerea Bryant boasts a broad array of accolades at multiple levels including nine All-America honors and nine ACC Championships in two collegiate seasons. She swept the ACC short sprints both indoors and outdoors as a freshman in 2011, and won four more conference championships, including the 4x100m relay, last season. Bryant owns a IAAF World Junior Gold Medal in the 4x100m relay and a World Junior Bronze Medal at 200m. She was 2012 USA Junior Champion in the 100m to go along with USTFCCCA Southeast Region Indoor Track Athlete-of-the-Year and ACC Indoor MVP honors that year. Her 100m all-conditions best time is 11.26 with a wind-legal best of 11.36. She also boasts a 60m PR of 7.19 and a 200m best of 22.88 (22.54 all-conditions).
Aaron Gelnett – South Oldham High School – Oldham County, Ky.
A quality thrower who was Kentucky Region 4 AAA Champion in the discus and shot put. He placed sixth at the 2013 Kentucky State Championship discus throw competition. Gelnett, a high school football standout as an offensive guard, owns a shot put personal best throw of 14.61m/47’11.25″ and a discus PR of 45.35m/148’8″.
Kenyattia Hackworth – Transfer – Hinds Community College – Mobile, Ala.
Kenyattia Hackworth joins UK with experience at the highest levels of collegiate track and field. She won the Junior College Indoor National Championship in the long jump with a season-best 6.05m/19’10.25″. She also competed at the both NJCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the 200m. Her personal best long jump 20’8.5″/6.3m. Hackworth also qualified for the NCAA Championships during her freshman season at Louisiana Tech in the long jump and 4×100-meter relay, earning honorable mention All-America honors for the latter event.
Kendra Harrison – Transfer – Clemson – Clayton, N.C.
Kendra Harrison brings a wealth of experience excelling at the highest levels of collegiate track and field as a seven-time All-American and seven-time ACC Champion in hurdles events and relays. She was named the ACC Outdoor Championships Most Valuable Track Performer last season. She finished inside the top-5 in all three of the events she competed in at the 2013 NCAA Championships (100h, 400h and 4×1). Her collegiate-best time in the 100h is 12.88, she has a 400h PR of 55.75 and her 60h best is 8.13. She competed at the past two USA Championships including the 2012 Olympic Trials. As a prep athlete, Harrison won the New Balance National Championship in the 60h and 100h as well as the 2010 USA Junior Olympic 100h and 400h Gold Medals. She was a four-time state champion and set the state record in the 300h.
Leah Nugent – Transfer – Virginia Tech – Abington, Pa.
Leah Nugent comes to UK having already proven herself as a collegiate all-conference hurdler. Nugent was All-ACC in the 400-meter hurdles in 2013, and she also made the NCAA East Preliminary Championships in the 100h and 400h the past two seasons. Her collegiate-best 100h time is 13.72 with an all-conditions best of 13.63, and her best 400h time is 58.47. As a prep athlete she was an eight-time All-America and 2011 Gatorade Pennsylvania Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Nugent set Pennsylvania records in the 300m hurdles and the 4x400m relay en route to a pair of state titles. Her high school-best 300h time of 41.10 was the nation’s No. 3 prep performance in 2011. She won the New Balance Outdoor National Championship in 2011 as well as the Penn Relays 400m hurdles high school championship in 2010.
Michael Patterson Jr. – Transfer – Central Arizona
A strong horizontal jumper, Patterson Jr. has produced quality performances during two seasons at the junior college level. Patterson Jr. qualified for the NJCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump the past two seasons at Central Arizona. He owns a collegiate best triple jump mark of 15.14m/49′ 8.25″. His long jump PR is 22’9″/6.93m.
Daje Pugh – Transfer – Washington – Fairfield-Suisun, Calif.
Daje Pugh joins the UK hurdles group having been one of the top recruits in the nation for the 2012 signing class. Pugh won the 2012 USATF Junior Olympic Nationals title in the 100m hurdles, running a PR of 13.61 seconds, and also ran the 400m hurdles in 60.88 seconds. Her collegiate experience includes starts in the 4x400m relay at the 2013 NCAA West Preliminary Championships and the 2013 Pac-12 Championships in both the 100h and 4×1. Pugh won the 2012 California High School Div. I 300m hurdles title, with a U.S. leading time of 40.57 seconds, the No. 8 mark in U.S. history. She also placed third in the 2012 California 100m hurdles final with a Sac-Joaquin Section record 13.69, ranking seventh among seniors nationally and 15th overall. Pugh was named the Daily Republic Athlete of the Year all four years of her high school career.
