Matt Peare Earns Pole Vault Silver on Day One of SEC Championships

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Matt Peare won a silver medal in the pole vault while the women’s DMR earned a bronze medal on day one of Southeastern Conference Championships hosted by Texas A&M from Friday, February 25 through Saturday, February 26. 

In total, 10 Wildcats scored points for Kentucky on day one and 10 will be running in finals on Saturday. 

Kentucky still has the men’s triple jump, men’s shot put, women’s 60-meter hurdles, and the men’s and women’s 60m, 200m and 4x400m relay coming up on day two. 

Finals Highlights 

Peare finished second in the pole vault with a height of 17’3″/5.26m, earning his third SEC medal in three years. 

Peare won gold in back-to-back SEC Indoor Championships in 2020 and 2021. 

The women’s DMR of Jenna Gearing, Megan Moss, Bryanna Lucas and Tori Herman ran the second fastest time in UKTF history with their bronze medal-winning time of 11:00.18. 

UKTF’s next best finish was Joseph Jardine’s fifth place performance in the pole vault with a personal best height 16’10.75″/5.15m. 

Jade Gates and Molly Leppelmeier combined for sixth and seventh place respectively with marks of 67’1.25″/20.45m and 66’10.75″/20.39m. 

The 5000m duo of Perri Bockrath and Ethan Kern both placed seventh in their respective races and both earned PRs. Bockrath’s time was 16:13.94, the third fastest for UK all-time and Kern’s was 14:10.02, the seventh fastest for UK all-time. 

The men’s DMR of Jacob Brizendine, Jacob Smith, Alex Justus and Dylan Allen earned points for Kentucky by finishing seventh (9:49.04). 

Prelim Highlights 

Abby Steiner led the way for Kentucky in prelims, earning the fastest times in the 60m (7.17) and 200m (22.44). Both are less than .1 behind her school record times, and in the case of the 200m, her collegiate record time. 

Her highly-anticipated 200m final race will begin at 6:40 p.m. ET. 

Lance Lang shined for the Cats with the second fastest time in the 200m prelim (20.65) and fourth fastest in the 200m prelim (6.65). Lang was less than .08 off both his personal best times. 

Lang will be joined by Myles Anders in the 60m finals (6.68, 5th) and school record holder Kennedy Lightner in the 200m finals (20.92, 6th). Anders tied his personal best time in the event. 

Alexis Holmes impressed as expected in the 400m with the second fastest time of her career (51.89) and third fastest in prelims, clinching a finals berth on Saturday evening. 

Masai Russell took the fourth qualifying spot in the 60m hurdles finals with a 8.03 run. 

Following Steiner in the 200m was Karimah Davis, running the fifth fastest among the field with a personal best 23.11. With that performance, she now sits sixth for UK all-time in the event. 

Dwight St. Hillaire will take to the track for the 400m finals on Saturday after finishing prelims with the seventh fastest time (46.50). 

Three distance runners qualified for event finals as well. Jenna Gearing and Dylan Allen will take on the women’s and men’s mile finals after each taking the ninth qualifying spots with times of 4:43.10 and 4:03.84. 

Heptathlon 

Senior Jacob Sobota sits at eighth in the heptathlon standings with 2,963 points after four events. 

His top finishes came in the long jump and shot put. 

Sobota started the day off with a seventh-place finish in the 60m (7.08), followed by sixth in the long jump (22’5.25″/6.84m). 

He also earned sixth in the shot put with a personal best throw of 42’11″/13.08m to collect 672 points. 

Pentathlon 

Annika Williams finished sixth in the pentathlon with 4,072 total points.  

She started near the bottom with her 60m hurdles performance but her third place in the high jump and win in the shot put put her back in the game but concluded with a ninth-place finish in the 800m to place sixth. 

Her top finish came in the shot put, where she won the event with a personal best put of 43’1″/13.13m, which brought her up to third place. 

Her next best mark was her third-place finish in the high jump with mark of 5’9.25″/1.76m, which is only two inches off her personal best from 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships. 

She began the pentathlon with a 13th place finish in the 60m hurdles (8.91) alongside an eighth-place finish in the long jump (18’8.5″/5.70m). 

Meet Information 

On Saturday, the heptathlon continues at 11 a.m. ET with the 60m hurdles as the first event of the day. Saturday’s field events will begin at 2:15 p.m. ET with the men’s high jump while running events start at 5:10 p.m. with the women’s mile and last until 8:10 p.m. ET with the start of the men’s 4x400m relay. 

The meet is streamed live on SEC Network+ on both Friday and Saturday with separate links depending on the time of day. Please refer to the Kentucky track & field schedule page for all streaming links. There will also be a highlight show on SEC Network on Sunday from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. ET. 

Live results can be found at flashresults.com. 

Tickets are required for fan entry with general admission and reserved seating available for purchase. To buy tickets visit the 12th Man Foundation Ticket Office by visiting https://aggi.es/secindoor22 or calling 888-99-AGGIE (888-992-4443). 

The meet features nine ranked teams on the women’s side and nine on the men’s side per the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association top 25 rankings. Kentucky women’s track & field is currently ranked No. 5 and fourth among SEC teams while the men’s team is ranked No. 9 and fourth among SEC teams. 

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