Kentucky Travels to South Carolina Invitational
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 12-ranked Kentucky women’s indoor track and field team and the No. 22-ranked men’s squad will be challenged by the largest field of the young season Friday and Saturday as the Wildcats participate in the South Carolina Invitational in Columbia.
Eleven teams will compete at the event, including Alabama, Alabama State, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida, Furman, Kentucky, North Carolina A&T, Ole Miss and South Carolina. Seven of the women’s teams are ranked nationally, featuring No. 9 Alabama, No. 15 Clemson, No. 17 South Carolina, No. 18 Ole Miss, No. 19 Florida and No. 21 Auburn, along with the Wildcats. Four men’s teams are in the top 25, including No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 7 North Carolina A&T, No. 15 Alabama and UK.
Friday’s action will begin at 9:30 a.m. and focus on events for multi-event competitors in the women’s pentathlon and men’s heptathlon. Saturday commences at 9 a.m. with the completion of heptathlon events, followed by a full slate of track and field competition beginning at 11 a.m. The Carolina Indoor Track & Field Facility will be the site of the meet. It is UK’s first trip to the facility, which opened in 2019.
Live results can be tracked at https://results.adkinstrak.com/meets/6843. Saturday’s competition also will be broadcast on SEC Network +. This can be found on ESPN.com/watch or on the ESPN app.
Following a week away from competition, Kentucky is coming off the Wooo Pig Classic in Fayetteville, Ark., in which the UK men finished in third place and the UK women fifth. Graduate student Molly Leppelmeier highlighted UK’s performance with a win in the shot put, a toss of 50’5.25″/15.37m. She also finished second in the weight throw with a sling of 65’7.75″/20m. The Wildcats had multiple second- and third-place finishes on both the men’s and women’s sides.
Junior sprinter Abby Steiner enters this week’s meet holding the Southeastern Conference’s top times in the 60-meter dash, 7.22 seconds, and the 200m dash at 22.83. The 200m time currently stands as the nation’s best for the indoor season.
Following this meet, UK will have one more weekend of competition before the indoor championship events for the SEC on Feb. 25-27 and the NCAA on March 11-13.
Follow along with the Cats on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.
