Nine Wildcats, Plus Relay, Post Top-10 Finishes at Razorback Invitational

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Nine Kentucky Wildcats, plus the 4×400-meter relay, finished in the top 10 of their events Saturday at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  

Wayne Lawrence Jr., a transfer from the University of Iowa, highlighted the day by running 46.48 seconds in the 400-meter dash. He finished fifth in the race and it is the fourth-fastest 400m time in Kentucky history. 

Also finishing in the top 10 on Saturday were: 

• Victoria Perrow and Anthaya Charlton, fourth and eighth, respectively, in the 60-meters; 
• Siobhan Szerencsits, fifth in the pole vault;  
• Logan Coles, sixth in the men’s weight throw;  
• Simi Akinrinsola, eighth in the women’s weight throw;  
• Joseph Palmer, eighth in the triple jump;  
• Sophie Galloway 10th in the triple jump; and  
• DeAnna Martin, 10th in the 800m.  

Another highlight was the performance of UK volunteer assistant coach Abby Steiner, who ran in the 400-meter dash as a professional competitor. She set the meet record with a blazing mark of 50.59 seconds, which is the world-leading time thus far in the 2023 indoor season. 

Saturday was topped by women’s 4×400-meter relay, which carried a season-best 3:32.83 into eighth place overall, sixth among collegiate teams.  

On Friday, Keaton Daniel broke his own school record in the men’s pole vault, as he ascended 18 feet, 10.25 inches / 5.75 meters. Daniel raised his school record by five inches and is the collegiate leader as of Friday evening. The senior from Henderson, Nevada, also continued his undefeated streak of wins in all four indoor meets this season. 

Daniel wasn’t alone in the victory circle Friday as senior Kennedy Lightner (North Little Rock, Ark.) starred in the return to his home state by zipping 20.71 seconds to claim the men’s 200-meter dash. It’s back-to-back wins for Lightner, who also commanded the 200 in the Red Raider Open last week. 

In the shot put, graduate student Josh Sobota (Knoxville, Tenn.) earned his third victory this season by heaving the sphere 65’11”/20.09m.  

Notching a personal best was sophomore Anthaya Charlton (Nassau, Bahamas), who soared 20’7”/6.27m in the women’s long jump to land in sixth place on UK’s all-time indoor list. She finished fifth in the competition.  

Kentucky ended Friday on a high note, as Sydney Steely, Christal Mosley, Jenna Schwinghamer and Tori Herman set a school-record time of 10:58.26 in the distance medley relay. They finished sixth in the strong field. That quartet entered the meet with the nation’s fastest time: 11:17.69 run two weeks ago at the home Rod McCravy Memorial, so as of Friday evening the team rank sixth nationally with their new school record. 

All totaled over the two days, the Wildcats notched 10 personal bests at the Randal Tyson Track Center, which will be the host site of the 2023 Southeastern Conference Championships in February.  

A total of 16 women’s teams and 15 men’s teams competed in this weekend’s event, eight of which were ranked in each gender. The participating teams included host Arkansas, Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Florida, Florida State, Iowa, Iowa State, Kentucky, LSU, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon State (women only), Stanford, Southern California and Texas A&M.   

Kentucky has a week off from competition before resuming Feb. 10-11 with split-squad action at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, S.C., and the Husky Invitational in Seattle, Washington. 

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