UKTF Off to Gainesville for Florida Relays

LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky track & field will be competing in their biggest outdoor meet yet, the annual Pepsi Florida Relays at the University of Florida in the James G. Pressley Stadium from Thursday, March 31 to Saturday, April 2. 

This will be the Wildcats’ second outdoor meet of the season as a team and will feature 26 members of the men’s team and 26 of the women’s team. 

Meet Information 

The meet begins on Thursday at 5 p.m. with the men’s hammer throw, followed by the men’s javelin at 7 p.m. as the only two collegiate events of the day. 

Field events begin at 11:30 a.m. on Friday with the women’s triple jump and end at 7:30 with the women’s discus invite. Friday’s collegiate running events start at 5 p.m. with the women’s 1500-meters and finish at 10 p.m. with the men’s 5000m. 

Saturday’s competition starts at 11 a.m. with the men’s discus invite and ends around 6:30 p.m. with the men’s 4x400m relay. The final field event, the men’s triple jump, starts at 3 p.m. while the first running event is the women’s 100m hurdles at noon. 

Live results can be found on Delta Timing. 

The meet will be streamed live on SEC Network + beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The meet will not be live streamed on Thursday. 

Tickets are available for purchase on Ticketmaster. 

The teams that will be competing are Alabama, Auburn, Charlotte, Clemson, Columbia, Florida A&M, FAU, Florida State, Georgetown, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Hampton, Harvard, Howard, Indiana, Iowa, Jacksonville, Kentucky, Maryland, Miami (FL), NC A&T, Nebraska, North Florida, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, South Carolina, South Florida, UCF, Vanderbilt, VCU, Villanova and Virginia Tech. 

The Cats’ Last Meet Weekend 

Five Wildcats competed in two different meets last weekend: the Texas Relays and Raleigh Relays. 

Kaitlyn Lacy placed 39th overall and 17th in her heat with a time of 34:55.36 seconds in the 10,000m. 

Lacy is also eighth on the UK all-time list in the 5,000m from running 16:26.63 during last year’s outdoor season. 

Sophie Carrier followed Lacy with a time of 36:58.04 and Sarah Michels finished the race with a personal best time of 37:12.02. 

Sophie Galloway, a freshman from Mayfield, Kentucky, finished the heptathlon in 15th place with 4,857 points. 

Her best finishes came in the javelin throw (117’5″/35.80m) and long jump (18’6.5″/5.65m), both of which she placed 11th in. 

Her 800m time of 2:30.45 was a personal best by 17 seconds. 

Black and Gold Invite 

The Wildcats’ first outdoor meet of the season was UCF’s Black and Gold Invitational. 

Kentucky track and field teams won 11 events and featured the top collegian in two more events to total 13 top finishes, including a men’s 200m sweep among collegians. 

UKTF earned 16 NCAA top-15 marks for the 2022 outdoor season, posted seven times/marks on the UK all-time list and had five Wildcats earn collegiate-leading times/marks. 

Dwight St. Hillaire ran for first in the men’s 200m with an outdoor personal best of 20.24 seconds, improving upon his already second fastest time in UKTF history. An unattached competitor finished second while UKTF swept third through sixth. 

Keaton Daniel tied his best vault of the year (18’0.5″/5.50m) for an event win. Daniel is the school record holder in the event both indoors and outdoors and is the reigning 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships silver medalist in the pole vault. 

Josh Sobota won the discus with a personal best throw of 191’8″/58.44m. He now ranks ninth for UK all-time in the event. 

Masai Russell ran a speedy 56.52 in the 400H for the win, only .34 off her personal best from 2021 outdoor NCAAs. 

Kenroy Williams won his best event, the 400H, with a time of 50.30 which is only .12 off his personal best. 

Molly Leppelmeier won the women’s hammer throw with a mark of 211’9″/64.55m. On Friday, she took second, but was the top collegian, in the shot put (52’0″/15.85m). 

Rahman Minor won the men’s high jump, clearing 7’0.25″/2.14m, just two inches from his PB. 

UK’s women’s 4x400m relay of Dajour Miles, Karimah Davis, Masai Russell and Bryanna Lucas won the last event of the meet with a time of 3:42.51. 

Fresh off an All-America indoor season, Karimah Davis won the women’s 100m with a time of 11.29 (+1.6) that earned her the No. 7 spot on the UK all-time performers list. 

Rodney Heath won the men’s 100m in 10.32 (+1.8). Tai Brown won the 110m hurdles with a 13.59. 

Shadajah Ballard and Darci Khan were the top two collegians in the women’s 100m hurdles, second and third overall, with respective windy times of 13.20 and 13.27 (+3.5). 

Freshman Logan Coles placed seventh in the men’s hammer throw with a mark of 189’4″/57.72m, moving to No. 8 on the UK all-time list. 

Siobhan Szerencsits placed second in the women’s pole vault (13’5.25″/4.10m), as did Phoebe McCowan in the 1500m (4:27.29). 

Beck O’Daniel placed second in the men’s 400H (52.27). 

The third-place finisher in the men’s 200m was Jacob Smith (20.86). Tai Brown earned fourth (20.89), Brian Faust placed fifth (20.90) and Myles Anders finished sixth (21.03). Only Brown’s time was wind legal. 

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