Wildcats Ready For SEC Indoor Championships

Lexington, Ky. – Kentucky track & field is set to compete at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships at the University of Arkansas this Friday and Saturday at the Tyson Indoor Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Meet Information

Friday’s competition consists of track prelims, some field events, pentathlon/heptathlon, and distance event finals including the men’s and women’s 5000 meters and the distance medley relay. The remainder of the events will take place on Saturday.

Live results can be found on flashresults.com and the meet will be streamed live on SEC Network +.

Tickets for the championships may be purchased online.

The meet begins at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT on Friday with the pentathlon. The heptathlon will begin shortly afterward at 1:15 p.m. ET/12:15 CT, before field events kickoff at 2:30 p.m. ET/ 1:30 p.m. CT. Track prelims will begin at 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT and will last through 9:15 p.m. ET/8:15 p.m. CT with the women’s distance medley relay closing out the evening.

Saturday’s events will begin at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT with the conclusion of the heptathlon and the championships will last through 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT with the women’s 4×400 meter relay ending the day.

Track Season Recap

The Wildcats enter SEC Championships ranked 14th (men) and 18^th (women), with 12 performances ranked in the 2023 NCAA top 50 for the men and 17 for the women.

The women’s and men’s teams also combined for eight NCAA top 10 performances for the 2023 indoor season with three of those finishes coming in the top five.

The highest-ranked men’s performance this season comes from Kennedy Lightner whose 20.54 in the 200 meters ranks sixth in the NCAA this season. Notably next to Lightner comes Jordan Anthony, who holds the ninth-highest time in the NCAA this season with a 6.55 in the 60 meters. Anthony’s run in Texas saw him break the freshman record and come within a second of the school record held by Wildcat Olympian Tim Harden.

For the women, Masai Russell shocked the world when she broke the collegiate record with a scintillating time of 7.75 seconds. Russell eclipsed the mark of 7.78 seconds set by Grace Stark of Florida at the 2022 NCAA Championships and moved past the Kentucky standard of 7.87 seconds owned by Keni Harrison, an eventual Olympic medalist, since 2015. Harrison’s 7.87 was her winning time in the 2015 NCAA Final.

Russell joined a distinguished group that includes Abby Steiner (200m indoor and outdoor, 2022); Sydney McLaughlin (400m hurdles, 2018); and UK’s 2022 4×400 outdoor relay (Megan Moss, Steiner, Karimah Davis, Alexis Holmes) in owning five collegiate records. In addition to her name being in the record books, Russell was also named co-NCAA Division I Women’s Athlete of the Week and was named to the Bowerman watch list.

Russell also joins a 4×400 relay team of Karimah Davis, Christal Mosley, and Dajour Miles whose 3:29.40 ranks sixth in the NCAA and fifth in the all-time performer list at Kentucky. In other long-distance events, a team consisting of Tori Herman, Christal Mosely, Jenna Schwinghamer, and Sydney Steely recorded a 10:53.45 in the distance medley on the final weekend of the regular season, lowering their school record by 4.81 seconds and ranking eighth in the NCAA.

Field Season Recap

It was a record-breaking indoor season for the men in field events with Keaton Daniel, and Josh Sobota all breaking records in the triple jump, pole vault, and shot put respectively this year.

Both Daniel and Sobota didn’t wait long to make an impact this year as both student-athletes earned record-breaking results in the opening meet of the season. Daniel opened his indoor season with a pole vault win. The two-time reigning Southeastern Conference Outdoor Champion broke the indoor school record he shared with Matt Peare, clearing 18 feet, 1.25 inches/5.52 meters.

A week later, Daniel broke his record again this time clearing 18 feet, 5.25 inches / 5.62 meters earning himself SEC Co-Field Athlete of the Week honors. His result stands as the fourth-best in the NCAA before conference championships take place.

Just like Daniel, Sobota opened his season with a record-breaking throw in the shot put tossing for 66-5.75/20.26 meters replacing Jeff Chakouian who’s held the Kentucky record since 2001 with a 65-10.50. Sobota’s toss has him at fifth in the NCAA leaderboards entering conference competition.

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