17 Wildcats Qualify for NCAA Indoor Championships
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The NCAA has announced that 17 Wildcats of the Kentucky track & field program, 12 women and five men, have qualified to compete in the upcoming NCAA Indoor Championship on Friday, March 10, and Saturday, March 11 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The top 16 competitors in each individual event qualify for NCAA Championships while each of the four relay events will have 12 teams competing.
Below is a list of who has qualified and in which event(s).
Women:
60H: Masai Russell
4×400: Karimah Davis, Masai Russell, Christal Mosley, Dajour Miles, Yasmin Brooks, Tamiia Fuller
DMR: Sydney Steely, Christal Mosley, Jenna Schwinghamer, Tori Herman, DeAnna Martin
Long Jump: Anthaya Charlton
Pentathlon: Annika Williams
Men:
60m – Jordan Anthony
200m – Kennedy Lightner
Pole Vault – Keaton Daniel
Triple Jump – Luke Brown
Shot Put – Josh Sobota
The Wildcats are coming off an SEC Championship meet where four athletes improved their marks to enter the NCAA Qualifying field.
Annika Williams secured the first medal of her career after winning gold in the women’s pentathlon shattering her personal best by 173 points. Williams’ 4,346-point five-event total ranks third in NCAA Division I this season.
Williams broke Precious Nwokey’s 12-year-old school record by 161 points. She turned in personal bests in the final two of five events, the long jump and grueling 800 meters, and had season bests in the first three events, the 60m hurdles, high jump, and shot put.
Anthaya Charlton, who also claimed bronze in the SEC Championships, enters the NCAA Championships in the long jump with a personal best of 21’5.25”/6.53m. The mark ranks sixth in NCAA Division I this season.
Luke Brown enters the NCAA Championships after breaking his own school record in the men’s triple jump at the SEC Championships, placing fourth with a mark of 54’9.25”/16.69 meters. He remains on top of the all-time UK performer list in the event.
The most notable qualifier for UKTF is Russell, who qualified in two events. She wowed the world on January 20, breaking the collegiate record in the 60-meter hurdles. Now with an SEC title under her belt in the same event, she looks to defend her collegiate record in New Mexico.
Russell will also compete in the 4x400m relay, with Brooks, Davis, Fuller, Mosley, and Miles. The fastest 4x400m relay of the season for the Wildcats came at the Tiger Paw Invite, where the team ran a 3:29.40, the fourth-fastest time in school history.
In other qualifiers, UKTF will send Kennedy Lightner whose 20.54 in the 200 meters ranks 11th in the NCAA this season. Notably next to Lightner comes Jordan Anthony, who holds the 10th-highest time in the NCAA this season with a 6.57 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.
The women’s DMR consisting of Steely, Mosely, Schwinghamer, Herman, and Martin qualified after lowering their school record by 4.81 seconds to 10:53.45 in the final meet of the regular season.
Keaton Daniel, who claimed the Indoor SEC Pole Vault title this season, qualifies with his record 18 feet, 5.25 inches / 5.62 meters vault that earned him SEC Co-Field Athlete of the Week honors. His result stands as the fourth-best in the NCAA.
Also in the field, Josh Sobota qualifies in the shot put after his record toss of 66-5.75/20.26 meters replaced Jeff Chakouian who’s held the Kentucky record since 2001 with a 65-10.50. Sobota’s toss has him at sixth on the NCAA leaderboards.
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