Kentucky Track & Field to Host Rod McCravy Memorial Meet

LEXINGTON, Ky. — University of Kentucky track & field will host its second and final indoor home meet on Friday, January 28 and Saturday, January 29 in Nutter Field House. 

The meet begins at 10:30 a.m. on Friday with the pentathlon 60-Meter hurdles. Friday’s last event is the men’s 200-meter dash at 6:40 p.m. Saturday’s events start at 9:30 a.m. with the heptathlon 60m hurdles and conclude with the men’s 4x400m relay at 3:30 p.m. 

Saturday’s events can be streamed live on SEC Network + starting at noon and will also contain highlights from Friday’s competition. 

Kentucky and 16 other teams will be competing at the meet, including: 

• Alabama State 

• Ashland 

• Austin Peay 

• Baylor 

• Florida 

• Howard 

• Indiana Tech 

• Kentucky State 

• Maryland 

• Michigan 

• Michigan State 

• Minnesota 

• Ohio State 

• Purdue 

• Wisconsin 

• Youngstown St. 

Fans: What You Need to Know 

Admission is free. Masks are required. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in order the create the safest possible meet experience, only essential personnel will be permitted on the track and in the infield. Those permitted inside non-spectator areas include student-athletes, coaches and support personnel, officials and Kentucky staff as well as public safety officials. 

Fans may watch the meet from the bleachers and a roped-off area on the west side of Nutter Field House to watch the meet. 

Free parking for the indoor meets will be available in the Green Lot adjacent to Nutter Field House and Kroger Field on Friday and Saturday. 

Fans are urged to access parking lots from Cooper Drive or University Drive as College Way is seeing increased traffic due to community COVID testing. 

PT Timing will provide live results for all events. You can find these at pttiming.com. 

Concessions will also be available. 

Red Raider Open and Vanderbilt Invitational 

Last weekend, Kentucky sent split squads to Lubbock, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee. 

The women’s 4x400m team of Masai Russell, Abby Steiner, Karimah Davis and Alexis Holmes set a new school record with a time of 3:28.62 at Texas Tech. It is currently the world-leading time in the event. 

Kennedy Lightner also broke a school record, setting a new standard in the 200m with a time of 20.52. 

He also played a huge part in the Wildcats’ 4x400m relay win when he came from behind in the final leg to run a 44.68 split and beat out Houston and Texas. 

Steiner, the 200m and 300m collegiate record holder, finished second in the 60m with a time of 7.17, which was a new personal best for her. It is currently the leading time in the SEC. 

Russell tied her personal best in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.01 and earned second in the event. 

Rahman Minor made his season debut in the high jump, placing second with a final jump of 7’0.5″/2.15m. 

Tai Brown ran a personal best in the 60m hurdles (7.72), moving up to fourth all-time in the event for Kentucky. 

In Vanderbilt, freshman Phoebe McCowan impressed in the women’s 1000m, winning the race in 2:45.59, followed by Jenna Schwinghamer in second (2:46.35).  

Michael Browning placed second in the weight throw (62’8″/19.10m), which is a personal best and 10th-best all-time for Kentucky.  

Josh Sobota won the shot put (61’0.75″/18.61m) for the second week in a row. 

Shadajah Ballard dominated the 60m hurdles, winning the event in 8.30 after also earning the top qualifying spot in prelims. 

Kaylyn Heath earned a win in the 60m with a time of 7.44. She finished second in prelims but beat out Vanderbilt’s Haley Bishop for first in the final. 

Molly Leppelmeier was Kentucky’s top finisher in the women’s shot put for the second week in a row, placing third overall in the event (51’3.50″/15.63m). 

Jim Green Invitational 

The Wildcats hosted their first home meet of the season on January 14-15 at Nutter Field House and found immense success. 

Steiner led the Wildcats in Lexington. She ran a world-leading 200m time, 22.58, only two tenths of a second behind her co-collegiate record of 2.38 that she earned at 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships. 

Even though the 200m is sparsely competed as an indoor event outside North America, Steiner’s first two competitions of the season are an ominous statement of intent, ability and potential. 

Russell, Lightner and Dwight St. Hillaire also highlighted the Jim Green Invitational for Kentucky 

Lightner won the 300m with a time of 32.75, the fifth-fastest in collegiate history and second-fastest in Kentucky history. He was previously the third fastest 300m runner in Kentucky history after running 33.07 at the Cardinal Classic, but surpassed Lance Lang’s 33.04 to move into second all-time for UK. 

He also ran the anchor leg of the men’s 4x400m relay, which earned the fastest time in the nation so far this season with a time of 3:05.01. Lightner, along with St. Hillaire, will be running the same event in Lubbock. 

Russell ran in three events at the Jim Green Invitational, the 60m, 60m hurdles and 200m, and she earned personal bests in all of them. She ran a blazing personal best of 8.01 in the semifinals of the 60m hurdles, the third-fastest all-time for UK. She doesn’t typically run the 200m, but she earned a personal best in the race when she finished second behind Steiner with a time of 23.60. In the 60m prelims, she ran a person best 7.46. 

Holmes won the 300m at the Jim Green Invitational with a personal best time of 37.37 for the fourth fastest 300m in UK history, followed by Megan Moss (37.87) with the seventh-fastest in UK history. 

Leppelmeier won the shot put with a distance of 50’2.5″/15.30 and the weight throw with a distance of 6’8.5″/20.33m. 

Sobota won the shot put with a mark of 62’11.5″/19.19m. 

Browning won the weight throw with a mark of 63’11.85″/19.50m, improving upon his currently held sixth-best weight throw in UK history. 

Bryanna Luca, Deanna Martin and Phoebe McCowan swept the 800m at the Jim Green Invitational, finishing within .30 of each other. Lucas won the race (2:09.12), followed by Martin (2:09.28) and McCowan (2:09.41) 

Follow Kentucky Track and Field and Cross Country on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and at UKathletics.com.