Thomson’s Five 10k Points Lead UK on SECTF Friday

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Kentucky track and field senior Jacob Thomson finished fourth in the 10,000 meters, scoring five points to lead a seven-point Friday for the Wildcat men’s team at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships.

Thomson stayed in a physical lead pack through the first half of the race, but eventually was unable to match a three-man attack by Alabama, and finished fourth with a time of 29:22.31.

A pair of UK men’s team throwers scored a point each in UK’s only other point-scoring opportunities on Friday. UK is in eighth place in the men’s team race with three of 21 events scored. Alabama leads with 30 points.

The UK women’s team has yet to score, while Ole Miss and Missouri are tied for the team lead with 15 points through two of 21 events.
 

Friday scorers
David Cline tossed a personal best 218’3″/66.53m to score a point by placing eighth. The time improved his mark as the No. 2 performer on the UK all-time list.
 
Ethan Shalaway scored Kentucky’s first point of the 2018 SEC Championships, placing eighth in the javelin with a mark of 212’1″/64.65m. Elijah Marta just missed scoring, placing eithth with a mark of 210’5″/64.14m.

Friday qualifiers
Sydney McLaughlin ran the fastest time in the 400m hurdles heats out of lane eight, a 54.85, that is the second fastest time recorded by a collegian this year. McLaughlin has the only faster time in the country, a 53.60 world U20 record two weeks ago, that is fourth fastest in collegiate history.

The 400m hurdles final is at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday.
 
Ian Jones advanced to the SEC 800m final for the second year in a row, running 1:50.57q to claim the last non-automatic qualifying place into the Sunday final.
 
Kianna Gray ran 22.92w (+2.4) to return to the SEC 200m final for the first time in two years.
 
Broadcast information
The SEC Championships will be streamed live on SECN+ Saturday at 10:15 a.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The meet will air live on the SEC Network Sunday at 6 p.m. The broadcast talent includes Dwight Stones, Larra Overton, Jill Montgomery and John Anderson.

Saturday outlook
The meet continues at 10 a.m. on Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The first Wildcats will compete on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. ET in the men’s long jump, followed by the men’s shot put at 3 p.m.

The first track event will be the women’s 100m hurdles at 6:30 p.m.

SECTF precedent
The UK men’s and women’s teams have both finished as high as second at the SEC Outdoor Championships. The UK women’s team’s best finish was second place in 1981 (150 points.

The UK men’s team’s best SEC outdoor finish was second in 1971 with 114 points.

Last season the UK women’s team finished third, and the UK men’s team finished 11th at the SEC Outdoor Championships.
 
The defending SEC men’s champion is Texas A&M, which has captured two SEC crowns since joining the league. Tennessee has claimed a league-leading 25 SEC men’s titles. The defending SEC women’s champion is Arkansas, which has won each of the last four SEC crowns. LSU has claimed a league-leading 13 SEC women’s titles all-time.
 
Tickets are available for purchase at UTsports.com, with all-session passes $25 for adults and $10 for students.
 
UKTF returning SECTF Champions
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won the SEC women’s 100-meter hurdles each of the past two years, while Katy Kunc is defending 3,000-meter steeplechase gold medalist.

Sydney McLaughlin won the SEC indoor 400m title earlier this year, but she’s entered in just the 400m hurdles this weekend. The freshman Phenom leads the nation in both events outdoors.

Reigning NCAA outdoor pole vault champion Olivia Gruver, who made her outdoor season debut last week, won the SEC indoor title in February.

Senior Jacob Thomson won the SEC indoor 5k earlier this season, and won the SEC outdoor 5k and 10k in 2016.

Conference Championship meets mark the last team athletes can record marks that qualify for the NCAA Preliminary Championships to be held Memorial Day weekend. There, they will look to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which will occur June 6-9 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
 
Rankings snapshot
The UK women’s team is ranked No. 5 in the nation, and the UK men’s team is ranked No. 13.
 
A total of 18 SEC men’s and women’s track and field teams are ranked among the nation’s top-25 teams, according to the latest national rankings announced Monday by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
 
A nation-leading eight SEC men’s programs are ranked in the top-25, including five of the top eight. Florida is ranked No. 1, Alabama is No. 3, Texas A&M is No. 5, Georgia is No. 6 and Arkansas is No. 8. Other SEC programs in the top-25 include No. 12 LSU, No. 13 Kentucky and No. 20 Mississippi State. No other conference has more than five men’s teams in the top-25.
 
A nation-best 10 SEC women’s programs are ranked in the top-25 with six in the top nine. LSU is No. 1, Arkansas is No. 4, Kentucky is No. 5, Georgia is No. 6, Texas A&M is No. 8 and Florida is No. 9. Other SEC teams ranked in the top-25 include No. 15 Tennessee, No. 17 Alabama, No. 18 Missouri and No. 23 Ole Miss. No other conference has more than five women’s teams in the top-25.
 
SEC men’s and women’s track and field athletes lead the nation in 19 individual events entering this weekend’s SEC Championships.
 
Wildcats leading the nation in individual events are McLaughlin in the 400 meters and 400m hurdles (she’s ranked second in the 200m).
 
Camacho-Quinn has the No. 1 time on the NCAA Championships qualifying list (tailwinds slower than 4.0 meters/second), a 12.53w (+2.6) at the National Relays two weeks ago.
 
UK’s women’s 4x400m relay of Ross, Camacho-Quinn, McLaughlin and Kayelle Clarke that ran 3:26.92 has the top time in the country this year.

Timothy Duckworth has the top decathlon score in the NCAA this season, 8,145 in early April. He won’t compete in the decathlon this week, electing instead to just long jump and pole vault – two events in which he’s scored in at multiple SEC Championships before.
 
—
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.

Friday – Field

Friday – Track

Saturday – Field

Saturday – Track

Sunday – Field

Sunday – Track