4xMile Breaks School Record at Penn Relays Saturday

By Jacob Most
April 26, 2014 –

PHILADELPHIA – Kentucky’s men’s 4xmile relay turned in a strong showing to conclude the 120^th running of the University of Pennsylvania Relays on Saturday.

The Wildcats’ team of Robbie Scharold, Keffri Neal, Adam Kahleifeh and Matt Hillenbrand combined for a time of 16:20.58, breaking the 13-year-old school record by 18 seconds to finish fourth in the Championship of America final.

Robbie Scharold led off for UK with 4:13.6 split time having to fight through traffic for much of the way.

Keffri Neal then turned in a career-best 3:58.5 on the second leg.

Neal’s entered Saturday with a personal best mile time of 4:04.04 . The only runner in the field to record a faster second leg was Edward Cheserek – Oregon’s freshman three-time NCAA Champion – who completed four laps in 3:56.4.

Adam Kahleifeh ran the third leg in 4:06.7, and Matt Hillenbrand brought home the school-record relay in 4:01.8 to give the Wildcats fourth place behind Oregon (16:09.67), Stanford (16:17.83) and Villanova (16:19.98).

“The meet director, Dave Johnson, told me ‘I don’t care if you win or lose, I just want your name mentioned,’ ” head coach Edrick Floréal said. “If your name is mentioned, if you’re being competitive, if the crowd hears your name that’s all we care about. Likewise for me I just want our name to be mentioned.

“There was sort of a moment that we lost trying to be in the top-3 in the 4xmile with the national TV coverage. It would have been great and special for our program if they could have said ‘Kentucky’ a few more times. It would have been nice to finish a little higher.”

Keffri Neal ran a career-best 3:58.5 mile split on the second leg of the 4xmile relay. Photo by Jacob Most.

Leah Nugent lowered her wind-legal PR for the second consecutive day as she placed fourth in the Penn Relays 100m hurdles championship with a time of 13.29 in a -0.3 wind.

Allison Peare placed 13^th in the Penn Relays Olympic Development mile with a time of 4:43.04.

“I told the kids  that in the end your competitive effort is what lasts a lifetime,” Floréal said. “You win a watch, you lose a watch. Those moments come and go, but in the end you just have to feel like ‘man I was there, I gave myself an opportunity to win. Those kind of things go a long way for our team as we try to get to the next level.”

The Penn Relays was one of three meets across the country featuring UK athletes on Saturday. Multiple Wildcats also competed at the Triton Invitational in San Diego and the Bellarmine Classic in Louisville, Ky.

Throwers Shine at Triton Invitational

Raymond Dykstra impressed in the javelin throw for the second consecutive weekend to highlight UK’s performance at the Triton Invitational in San Diego.



Dykstra finished as the top collegian and second overall with a mark of 60.48m/198-05, which is less than a foot behind the PR he recorded last weekend.

Andrew Evans finished as the No. 2 collegian in the discus throw with a mark of 60.48m/198-05, which ranks less than a foot short of his season-best.

Rebecca Famurewa threw a season best in the discus, 54.04m/177-3, to finish third among collegians and 13th overall.

Bradley Szypka was eighth in the shot put with a mark of 18.92m/62-01.

Bellarmine Classic Recap

Eight Wildcats won events at Saturday’s Bellarmine Classic in Louisville, Ky.
 
Justin Kretchmer cleared 2.11m to win the high jump. The height tied his outdoor season best.

Corey Williams won the long jump with a top jump, 6.91m/22-8.

Nathan Donnellon, a decathlete, won the men’s javelin with a throw of 54.91m/180-02. Jade Walker won the women’s javelin with a mark of 37.37m/122-02.

UK had four of the top five finishers in the 100m hurdles as Nick Anderson won with a time of 14.01. Brandon Bagley and Clyde Gross were second and third respectively, and Ibn Short was fifth.

Morganne Phillips ran an outdoor season best 400m time, 55.64, in a victorious performance.

Tamyah Pipkin won the 100m with a time tied for her season best, 11.98.

Nick Anderson and Clyde Gross finished first and second respectively in the 200m with respective season-best times of 21.92 and 21.95 into a -2.3 wind.

Michelle Canterna cleared 4.05m/13-3.5, which tied for her school-record personal best to place third.