Kentucky Wins Five Events on Final Day of McCravy-Green Invitational
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Four individual wins and a dominant relay performance highlighted the Kentucky men’s and women’s track and field effort on Saturday at the Rod McCravy-Jim Green Invitational in the Nutter Field House.
In all, Kentucky won nine events over two days at its season-opening competition.
Jenna Gearing, who starred during the fall for the UK cross country team, picked up where she left off and got the Wildcats’ first win of the day in the mile run. The senior from Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia, led from wire to wire, turning in a time of 4:51.82 as Wildcats finished in four of the top five slots.
Dylan Allen, a junior from Louisville, matched Gearing on the men’s side. He covered the mile in 4:07.43, eclipsing his personal best. Teammate Jake Allen, a freshman from Naperville, Ill., finished just one-half second behind the victor.
All-American Alexis Holmes, the junior from Hamden, Connecticut, continued her excellence from last season in the 400-meter run, winning with a time of 53.21 seconds. It is the best time in the nation for the young indoor season. Again, a Wildcat was a close second as sophomore Megan Moss (Nassau, Bahamas), turned in a time of 53.65.
Kentucky’s staunch women’s 4x400m relay got the season off to a good start. Moss, Abby Steiner, Dajour Miles and Holmes turned in a nine-second win with a time 3:35.52. It is the best time in the nation for the 2021 campaign.
The meet concluded on an exciting note in the men’s pole vault. Matt Peare, the defending Southeastern Conference champion, won today’s event with a vault of 17’4.5″/5.30m – tying the current top height in the country. He had three cracks at breaking his own school record but barely missed converting the record height of 5.50m. The Wildcats swept the top four places in that event.
For the entire meet, Kentucky and North Carolina A&T tied with nine wins each.Louisville had six winners, Cincinnati had two victories and Eastern Kentucky won one.
Below are the Kentucky event results for the meet, including notes on personal bests and marks on the all-time Wildcat lists.
| Saturday, January 16 | |
| Event | UK entries |
| Women’s Pole Vault | 3. Nicole Bagby: 12’3.5″/3.75m 5. Siobhan Szerencsits: 12’3.5″/3.75″m 6. Alison D’Alessandro: 11’9.75/3.60m |
| Women’s 60m 1st Round | 3. Kaylyn Heath: 7.51Q 4. Dajour Miles: 7.43q |
| Men’s 60m 1st Round | 2. Lance Lang: 6.70Q 5. Dwight St. Hillaire: 6.81q 9. Rodney Heath Jr.: 6.87q |
| Women’s 60m Hurdles 1st Round | 2. Masai Russell: 8.54Q 3. Darci Khan: 8.71q 4. Amaya Chadwick: 8.74q |
| Men’s 60m Hurdles 1st Round | 2. Tai Brown: 7.93Q |
| Women’s Mile | 1. Jenna Gearing: 4:51.82 2. Tori Herman: 4:52.30 4. Rachel Boice: 5:01.88 5. Kaylie Kenne: 5:07.76 |
| Men’s Mile | 1. Dylan Allen: 4:07.43 | PB 2. Jake Allen: 4:07.93 7. Gabriel Szalay: 4:17.27 8. Matt Duvall: 4:19.66 9. McLean Griffin: 4:22.57 |
| Women’s 60m Final | 4. Dajour Miles: 7.43 5. Kaylyn Heath: 7.49 |
| Men’s 60m Final | 2. Lance Lang: 6.71 4. Rodney Heath Jr.: 6.85 |
| Men’s Triple Jump | 4. Robbie Springfield: 44’6.25″ |
| Women’s 60m Hurdles Final | 2. Masai Russell: 8.44 3. Amaya Chadwick: 8.58 4. Darci Khan: 8.60 |
| Men’s 60m Hurdles Final | 2. Tai Brown: 7.91 |
| Women’s 400m |
1. Alexis Holmes: 53.21 | No. 1 on TFFRS DI list entering Saturday 2. Megan Moss: 53.65 |
| Men’s 400m |
3. Jacob Smith: 47.19 6. Kenroy Williams: 47.97 7. Beck O’Daniel: 49.73 | PB |
| Women’s 800m | 2. Jenna Schwinghamer: 2:12.36 3. Bryanna Lucas: 2:13.38 | PB 6: DeAnna Martin: 2:15.82 |
| Men’s Pole Vault | 1. Matt Peare: 17’4.5″/5.30m | tied No. 1 on TFFRS DI list entering Saturday 2. Dalton Shepler: 16’4.75″/5.0m 3. Lincoln Young: 15’11″/4.85m 4. Joseph Jardine: 15’5″/4.70m |
| Women’s 3000m | 4. Jenna Gearing: 9:59.41 10. Kelli Walsh: 10:18.76 17. Sophie Carrier: 10:30.51 |
| Men’s 3000m | 12. Aaron Withrow: 8:31.35 | PB |
| Women’s 4×400 | 1. UK A: M. Moss, A. Steiner, D. Miles, A. Holmes: 3:35.52 | No. 1 on TFFRS DI list entering Saturday 5. UK C: B. Lucas, D. Martin, J. Schwinghamer, A. Williams: 3:56.27 |
| Men’s 4×400 | 2. UK: C. Council, J. Smith, D. St. Hillaire, L. Lang: 3:09.85 |
| Friday, January 15 | |
| Event | UK entries |
| Women’s Weight Throw | 2. Molly Leppelmeier: 67’8″/20.62m | PB, No. 2 UK all-time 3. Jade Gates: 63’4″/19.30m | No. 5 UK all-time |
| Men’s Long Jump | 3. Robbie Springfield: 24’0.75″/7.33m 5. Trey Causey III: 23’1.75″/7.05m |
| Men’s Weight Throw | 2. Michael Browning: 59’11″/18.26m |
| Women’s High Jump | 2. Annika Williams: 5’9.75″/1.77m | No. 7 on #UKTF all-time indoor list 3. Carly Hinkle: 5’7.25″/1.71m |
| Men’s High Jump | 1. Rahman Minor: 6’11″/2.11m 2. Trey Causey: 6’11″/2.11m |
| Women’s Shot Put | 2. Molly Leppelmeier: 50’1.75″/15.28m 7. Annika Williams: 37’5.75″/11.42m |
| Women’s Long Jump | 2. Annika Williams: 19’2.75″/5.86m (PB) |
| Men’s Shot Put | 1. Josh Sobota: 62’6″/9.05m | No. 5 on TFRRS DI list entering Friday 9. Michael Browning: 46’10″/ 14.27m |
| Women’s 200m |
1. Abby Steiner: 22.83 | No. 1 on TFFRS DI list entering Friday 2. Dajour Miles: 23.89 7. Kaylyn Heath: 25.00 |
| Men’s 200m | 1. Lance Lang: 20.94 | PB, No. 1 on DI performance list entering Friday, No. 6 #UKTF all-time indoors 3. Dwight St. Hillarie: 21.09 4. Jacob Smith: 21.25 6. Cameron Council: 21.65 9. Rodney Heath Jr.: 22:15 10. Tai Brown: 22.23 |
The event is named in honor of two former Kentucky track athletes. Jim Green was the first African-American student-athlete in the Southeastern Conference to win NCAA and Southeastern Conference championships.
He won eight SEC individual events and three individual NCAA titles. Rod McCravy, who had established himself as a leader with great respect and care for others, died in 1987 at the age of 19.
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