Kentucky Headed for SEC Championships
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – The Kentucky men’s and women’s cross country teams will wrap up the fall season Friday at the Southeastern Conference Championships in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
LSU will host the event at the University Club golf course. The women’s 6,000-meter race begins at 10:05 a.m. ET and the men’s 8k event starts at 11 a.m. ET. Live television coverage begins on the SEC Network at 10 a.m. ET. Official results will be available at https://live.pttiming.com/XC-PTT.html?mid=2064.
Kentucky assistant track and field coach Hakon DeVries, who oversees the UK cross country teams, has squads with a nucleus of veterans that have been bolstered by freshman contributors. He is excited to see how the Wildcats perform.
“We’re at full strength and we have prepared as well as we can,” DeVries said. “We’re keeping them sharp, balancing training with rest and recovery.
“We have a lot of young runners who will be in a (collegiate) championship setting for the first time. The key is to trust your fitness and preparation, and hopefully each individual will peak at the right time.”
An unknown factor will be the conditions at the competition site, which is expected to receive heavy rains Wednesday from tropical storm Zeta.
“The race will be on a golf course that is mostly flat, so there is potential for fast times,” DeVries said. “However, it could be slowed down if the course is wet.”
After the SEC Championships, the teams can resume competition in January, as the NCAA Championship events have been moved to 2021. Tentatively, the regular season continues from Jan. 30 through March 5, with NCAA selections set for March 6 and the national championships slated for March 15.
Men’s Team Outlook
The UK men’s lineup in Baton Rouge will include Dylan Allen, Jake Allen, Matt Duvall, McLean Griffin, Ethan Kern, Jonah Mitchell, Harper Moore, Patrick Schaefer, Trevor Warren and Aaron Withrow. Duvall led UK in the first two races of the season, earning SEC Co-Runner of the Week honors by winning the Commodore Classic on Sept. 19. He was SEC Freshman of the Week after finishing fifth at the “Live in Lou” Classic on Oct. 3. Mitchell paced the Cats at the UAB Blazer Classic on Oct. 16 and received SEC Freshman of the Week honors for that performance.
The team highlight for the abbreviated fall schedule was winning the Commodore Classic as Duvall, Allen, Kern, Schaefer and Mitchell all finished in the top 10 of the meet. UK finished fourth at last year’s SEC Championships, which were held in Lexington.
Women’s Team Outlook
Ten Wildcats will compete in the women’s race, including Perri Bockrath, Rachel Boice, Sophie Carrier, Jenna Gearing, Tori Herman, Kaylie Kenne, Kaitlyn Lacy, Madisyn Peeples, Jenna Schwinghamer and Athena Young. Gearing has led UK in all three races this season, including an individual victory at the “Live in Lou” Classic on Oct. 3, for which she was named SEC Runner of the Week. Kenne, Herman and Young also have placed on the UK scoring board in each meet. Young was SEC Freshman of the Week in the season opener, as she helped the Cats to a team victory at the Commodore Classic on Sept. 19.
The addition of Bockrath could be a boost to the Wildcat lineup. This will be her first competition of the season, as she has missed the prior meets because of injury. She was UK’s top runner at last year’s SEC Meet as the Wildcats placed seventh as a team.
“Jenna has competed for the win in each of our meets this season and hopefully will do so Friday,” DeVries said. “We’re happy to have Perri back, that is exciting for the team and herself.”
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