UK Women’s Team Third at NCAA Indoor Championships

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Kentucky men’s track and field senior Timothy Duckworth won the heptathlon, while the UK women’s team earned its first indoor podium finish, third place with 34 points, on Saturday at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships.
 
The UK women’s team bettered its then-school record indoor team finish of fifth place with 25 points last season.

Southeastern Conference teams swept the women’s podium with Georgia winning over Arkansas 61-49. Florida was fourth with 32 points.   

The UK men’s team finished tied for 17th as a team with 12 points. UK improved by five spots and two points from its indoor team finish a year ago.

Florida edged USC for the men’s team title, 40-37.

“Our guys are on the up,” Duckworth said. “Qualified two more people than last year, two younger guys so Jacob and I are seniors and it’s nice to pass that on to Daniel Roberts and Dwight St. Hillaire and the guys back home are itching to get here next year.”
 

Duckworth completes NCAA Heptathlon coronation
A year after losing out on the NCAA heptathlon title by 12 points last year, a miniscule margin by heptathlon standards, Duckworth gave no quarter to become the first Wildcat man to claim NCAA individual gold for the first time since the legendary Tim Harden in 1996 (55 meters).

Duckworth became the No. 4 performer in collegiate history recording the fifth best score 6,188, a 23-point personal best.

He vanquished any demons he may have harbored in the 1,000 meters, running a personal best 2:56.23 to clinch the win.

“When I finished all the emotions from last year rushed over me,” Duckworth said. “Running a good 1,000 this year, I can’t really describe how I’m feeling right now. I’m sort of still processing.
 
“We started out steady with a good 60 and a good long jump, and then started getting into it with a PR in the shot put and really good PR in the high jump, which I needed because Tyler (Adams) from Sam Houston State was jumping even higher. Going into day two I needed a consistent day. It didn’t start off that way with the hurdles because I was nearly falling, but once I crossed the finish line I knew I had to have a big pole vault, and I did. Then just a good, solid 1,000, which I’ve been training for.”

Duckworth recorded personal bests in the shot put (44’7″/13.59, 703 points), high jump (7’1.5″/2.17m, 963 points) and 1k over the weekend. He won the 60m (6.84, 940 points), long jump (25’4.75″/7.74m, 995 points), high jump and pole vault (16’11″/5.16m, 960 points).
 
Jacob Thomson put the Wildcats on the NCAA Indoor Championships scoreboard with two points in the 5k on Friday.

Saturday medalists
Sydney McLaughlin broke her world junior record in the 400m, running 50.36 to take silver and score eight points. It took USC’s Kendall Ellis running a collegiate record 50.34 to win from a separate section as only four athletes run on the track at one time in sprint races around 200m banked indoor tracks.

McLaughlin’s time ranks No. 2 in collegiate history indoors, and is the best ever by a freshman.

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn claimed her first NCAA indoor medal, a bronze in the 60m hurdles, running 7.96 to score six. Including outdoors, the junior is now a four-time NCAA medalist with two golds, a silver and now a bronze.

Olivia Gruver repeated as NCAA Indoor bronze medalist in the pole vault, clearing 14’9.5″/4.51m to score six points. The junior medaled for the third NCAA meet in a row having won outdoors in 2017.

Saturday scorers
Kentucky scored seven points in the 200m with McLaughlin and Camacho-Quinn coming back to double. McLaughlin ran 22.80 to place fourth. Camacho-Quinn ran 23.05 for seventh.

Faith Ross, McLaughlin, Camacho-Quinn and Kayelle Clarke then ran an indoor school-record 3:30.08 to finish fifth in the 4x400m relay and clinch the third-place team finish with the team’s last four points of the day.

McLaughlin finished with a team-best 14 points from her first NCAA Indoor Championships.

Marie- Josée Ebwea-Bile scored her first three NCAA indoor points in the triple jump reaching a sixth-place mark 44’4″/13.51m.
 
A re-air of the championship will be shown on ESPN2 Sunday, March 11 starting at 7 p.m. ET.
 
The Kentucky track and field program qualified 10 women’s, and four men’s entries. UK’s 10 women’s entries are the fifth most of any team in the field. UK’s four men’s entries are tied for 20th most.
 
UK women’s team had the same number of entries as a year ago. The No. 18-ranked UK men’s team doubled its number of entries from a year ago.
 
Ninety-three men’s programs and 84 women’s programs are represented at the Championships.
 
The top-16 declared entries, and top-12 declared relay teams from marks recorded this season qualified for the Championships.
 
The top-eight scorers in each of the 17 events on the men’s and women’s sides scored points by virtue of their place finish on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The team with the most points at the end of the meet won.
 
The UKTF at NCAA Indoor Championships precedent
The UK men’s team’s best NCAA indoor team finish was seventh in 1996 with 22 points.
 

—
For the most in-depth coverage of the UK cross country and track and field program follow the @KentuckyTrack social media channels on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as well as on  UKathletics.com.