Keaton Daniel Wins Silver Medal, Josh Sobota Places Fifth at NCAA Track and Field Championships

EUGENE, Oregon – Keaton Daniel won the silver medal in the pole vault and Josh Sobota placed fifth in the shot put for the Kentucky men’s track and field team Wednesday at the 2021 NCAA Championships at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon. 
 
Daniel became the first men’s pole vault medalist in Kentucky history. The redshirt freshman from Henderson, Nevada, made his second attempt at 17’4.5″/5.30m, skipped the next height, then hit his second try at 18’2.5″/5.55m. He was unable to clear subsequent levels, but had done enough to strike silver.
 
“It started raining on us pretty hard, so the strategy was just pass as much as we could, kind of wait it out,” said Daniel, who transferred to Kentucky but missed the indoor season because of injury. “The year at Kentucky has been insane in dealing with hamstring issues, but it’s nice with the training staff and the coaches here. They’ve really gotten me back on my A-game.”
 
Sobota’s fifth-place finish was sparked by his best day of the season. He surpassed his outdoor personal best on his first heave of the day at 62’10.75″/19.17m. However, he wasn’t done yet.  The junior from Knoxville set another personal best, then another, and yet another, finally topping out at 65’0.5″/19.82m — the third-longest put in UK outdoor history.
 
Daniel and Sobota combined to earn 12 team points, lifting Kentucky into fourth place after the first day of action.
 
Meanwhile on the track, Kentucky qualified three events for Friday’s finals while battling a day beset with cool temperatures made chillier by rain and breezes.   
 
Tai Brown advanced to Friday’s finals in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 10.69. Dwight St. Hillaire turned on the jets down the final straightaway to advance to the men’s 400m final with a qualifying time of 45.68Q.
 
UK’s highly regarded 4x400m relay showed well in the qualifier, as the unit of Kenroy Williams, Lance Lang, St. Hillaire and Kennedy Lightner finished second in its heat (third overall) with a time of 3:04.42.
 
The Kentucky women, ranked No. 19 nationally, swing into action with 11 entries Thursday and Saturday.  On Thursday, Molly Leppelmeier will be in the finals of the hammer throw along with nine track semifinals. Saturday’s action features Annika Williams in the high jump and finals of the running events.
 
The top-rated Wildcat women are Masai Russell (No. 9 nationally in the 100m hurdles and No. 14 in the 400 hurdles), Annika Williams (No. 11 in the high jump), the No. 11-rated 4×400 relay and the No. 13-ranked 4×100 relay.
 
Schedule: https://goducks.com/documents/2021/5/21/Meet_Schedule_NCAA_Championships.pdf
 
Live results: https://dt8v5llb2dwhs.cloudfront.net/Outdoor/2021/index.htm
 
Men’s start lists: http://rtspt.com/ncaa/d1outdoor21/men_start.htm
 
Women’s start lists: http://rtspt.com/ncaa/d1outdoor21/women_start.htm
 
Watch Thursday: ESPN2
 https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=0a75ae81-3b45-4deb-abfc-07b894da91a3
 
Watch Friday: ESPN2
https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=116de509-6e71-4596-b5dc-46b4220bbdca
 
Watch Saturday: ESPNU
 https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=48db631a-91dc-419e-a132-881bb3ec8d88
 
Here is the meet schedule with Kentucky entries, listed in Pacific time:

Follow along with the Cats on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.